Interview with Chris Reed, Managing Director & CEO of Neometals Ltd. (ASX: NMT)
Neometals is a sustainable battery materials company that has developed proprietary technologies to recover and recycle valuable materials from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and industrial by-products.
The company has three core business units focused on battery material recycling and resource recovery:
Lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycling through a joint venture called Primobius. This operates a commercial recycling facility in Germany and has partnered with Mercedes Benz. A larger facility in Canada with Stelco is planned for 2023.
Vanadium recovery from steelmaking slag through a joint venture in Finland. This aims to produce high-purity vanadium pentoxide from slag supplied by Scandinavian steelmaker SSAB. Production is expected to start in 2023.
Lithium chemicals production from brines and hard rock using Neometals' ELi electrolysis process. A pilot plant with Portuguese company Bondalti is under development targeting 25,000 tonnes per annum of lithium hydroxide.
Neometals also owns the Barrambie titanium-vanadium project in Australia. This is one of the world's highest-grade deposits and a take-or-pay offtake deal is being finalised to support the export of titanium concentrate to China.
In summary, Neometals is leveraging proprietary technologies to sustainably produce battery materials by recycling end-of-life products and recovering co-products from industrial processes. Its commercial facilities are expected to come online in 2023.
