Umicore, a Belgian metal technology company, is building a 35 GWh equivalent battery materials production plant in Loyalist, Ontario, for the North American EV battery industry.

The federal and provincial governments have agreed to directly provide Umicore with €1.27 billion in co-funding. 

Using precursor cathode active material (pCAM) and CAM, critical components for battery performance, the factory will produce high-nickel technologies and high lithium manganese (HLM) and solid-state batteries. The engineering and permitting process is ongoing, and Umicore expects to begin construction later this year. The plant is expected to be commissioned at the end of 2025, and production will ramp up from 2026.     

Live stream recording of Umicore Groundbreaking Ceremony in Loyalist, Canada from Umicore on Vimeo.

“Umicore’s investment in Canada represents the final step in creating a global production presence with our local-for-local, sustainable EV battery material value chains,” said Mathias Miedreich, CEO of Umicore. “Our regionally-integrated battery value chains, which are already in place in Europe and Asia, give customers worldwide the security of supply of these critical and decarbonized battery materials in their fast transformation towards clean electric mobility.”

Source: Umicore