SXOOF - Preliminary Feasibility Study Report for EVSX Battery Recycling Plant
(TheNewswire)
Montréal - TheNewswire - June 24, 2021 - St-Georges Eco-Mining Corp. (C NSX :SX. CN ) (OTC:SXOOF) (FSE:85G1) is pleased to disclose that last week it received apreliminary report from Globerpro, the group tasked with coordinatingits ongoing feasibility study for the EVSX proposed battery recyclingoperation in the city of Baie-Comeau on the QuébecNorth-Shore.
This press release outlines and summarizes some of thekey findings of the study. Some elements have been kept confidentialto protect intellectual property and industrial secrets.
The preliminary report covers many topics in detail,allowing the Company to accelerate permitting and grant requests aswell as alternative financing. The in-depthresearch involved data obtained from governments, industry operators,and car manufacturers.
Recent Model Development Evolving inParallel with the Feasibility Study
The findings helped the Company negotiate withindustrial equipment vendors and allowed management to direct itsengineering design and equipment acquisition. The preliminary reportalso convinced management to design the plant as a scalable operationwith the aim to deliver the lowest possible CAPEX costs. Thebuilding and land identified should allow the Company to save months,if not years, of sourcing material, eliminating constructiontimelines, and drastically reducing building reconfiguration andadaptation.
The Company’s currently adopted model that will beused for the final feasibility study in support of the operation’sdebt financing is based on four parallel processing circuits. Thismodel allows a first phase of 10,000 tons of batteries per year fromthe first day of operation up to 90,000 tons of batteries to berecycled per year using the initial four circuits. Additionalcapacity to be added in the future could allow for 70,000 tons offeedstock to be processed in the tech plant, representingapproximately 225,000 tons of batteries per year to be recycled at theplant.
-
- 10,000 tons of batteries entering the industrialprocess represent approximately 3,000 of mineral feedstock or batterycells to be treated in the chemical plant portion of theoperation.
- The Company expects to be able to process up to20,000 tons of feedstock per year within the current building. It aimsto process up to 70,000 tons of feedstock per year within the confinesof the plant footprint and land with future expansion.
The Company is negotiating the acquisition of all theindustrial equipment required for the first circuit. It expectsreception of these units during the third quarter of this year. Theequipment to be delivered is expected to allow the processing of up to79,200 tons of gross batteries or approximately 20,000 tons offeedstock available for the chemical tech plant portion of the EVSXoperations in Baie-Comeau. By way of comparison, Li-Cycle’s declaredcapacity in Ontario, Canada, is currently 5,000 tons per year withadditional capacities of 15,000 tons presently being planned and builtin the United States and a planned plant with a 20,000 tons per yearcapacity with Redwood Materials also in the United States.
Key Elements of the PreliminaryReport
Costs, Capex, Opex, RevenueProjections
Construction costs, equipment acquisitions, andfinancing are being kept confidential for now. However, theCompany’s management is comfortable to disclose that no large equityfinancing is being planned to finance the operations and that cash onhands, grants, and debts, as well as equipment vendor lease-to-buyprograms, should finance the totality of the proposed operations. The Company will releasecash flow projections with excerpts from the final feasibility reportexpected later this summer.
Key Challenges Identified
Access to Used Batteries andFeedstock Material to be Processed
The main challenge identified by the preliminary reportlies in accessing EV batteries to be recycled. The currentavailability is severely limited. Projections based on differentdata sources and systematically directed interviews with carmanufacturers show that the Electric Vehicle battery recycling marketis currently microscopic in size and won’t take flight for anotherdecade.
Table 4 of Report - Projection of electric vehiclebatteries available for recycling (Plante, 2021-05-31)
Figure 6 of Report - Quantity ofrecycled lithium batteries (in tons) (Flash Battery, 2021)
The Company’s phase 1 project design incorporatesfour processing circuits: three full-length circuits from dismantlingto purification and one circuit that only targets feedstock andconcentrates. Over time this will allow for easier shut down formaintenance or simply for reconfiguration for other types ofbatteries.
The current study confirms that the Company will beable to counter the limited availability of EV batteries to berecycled in the first few years of operations by supplementing theavailability of EV batteries with domestic rechargeable batteries,commercial (power tool) batteries, and feedstocks (internal combustionvehicle batteries (ICE)’s black mass, mineral concentrate,etc.).
Competition
The lack of sizeable availability of EV batteries willbe exacerbated by a surge of recycling capacity coming online in theshort term. It was noted that EVSX would need to establishpartnerships with governments and industry aggregators if it wants tohave access to a steady minimum supply. The preliminary reportcovers in detail the partnerships and relationships currently beingestablished. This portion of the report will be kept confidential forthe time being.
Table 7 - Summary of competitors inCanada and the United States (Plante, 2021-05-31)
Environmental Challenges
A preliminary environmental evaluation is detailed inthis report. The initial conclusions of the consultants point to therequirement of an environmental ministerial authorization and excludethe project from the environmental impact evaluation and examinationprocess (REEIE). This allows the Company tostay within its projected timeline. In addition, the segregation ofthe tech plant circuit allows for scalability and ease of maintenance and limits the size of the acid tanks to lessthan 10,000 m³ allowing for simplerenvironmental permitting process. The consultants otherwise note thatphase 2 of the project would bring it within the constraints of thefull environmental review process.
Process Review
A good portion of the report covers the Company’sindustrial and chemical processes. Some challenges are mentioned,like the conversion of some of the process outputs and the dispositionof the plastics and other PVCs. Both aspects are being covered in apartnership with third parties who will remain confidential at thispoint.
Some important aspects of the process, specific to therecycling of batteries, should otherwise be disclosed in this release. One important aspect of recycling domestic and commercial batteriesis the usually problematic residual electric charge.
One challenge mentioned by the reporthas a solution that is not being covered by the preliminaryreport: The Company has designed a solution todischarge the batteries’ residual electric charge in bulk and isworking on the recuperation of this electricity to be sold to theprivate electric grid of the local municipality in the context of thecurrent project. This aspect of the process will generate new patentfilings and, therefore, will not be disclosed at this time.
Although the validation of the chemical technicalprocess itself is handled by WSP in a “black box” and will not bedisclosed until the final feasibility report, the current reportcovers all aspects surrounding it.
Material Entering the IndustrialPlant
The following table shows the estimated annual tonnageof materials coming into the EVSX battery recycling plant.
| Material |
| Projected Annual Tonnage |
| Batteries Entering the process – UP1 (packs) |
| 20 000 - 30 000 |
| Batteries Cells entering the Tech Plant - UP5 |
| 10 000 |
| Aluminum |
| 2 000 |
| Copper |
| 2 500 |
| Carbon |
| 2 500 |
| PVDF |
| 250 |
| Electrolytes |
| 1500 |
| Plastics |
| 350 |
| Active Cathode Material |
| 4 500 |
| Iron |
| 250 |
| Cooling Liquids |
| To be determined |
| Electronics |
| To be determined |
Minimum Scenario used for ActiveCathode Material Recuperation
Cathode active materials impact a battery’s capacityand voltage. Recycling these materials may prevent future shortages.This table represents the minimum scenario used for Active CathodeMaterial (ACM) recuperation.
| Element |
| Min t/an |
| Max t/an |
| Li |
| 55 |
| 112 |
| Co |
| - |
| 287 |
| Ni |
| - |
| 694 |
| Mn |
| - |
| 863 |
| Fe |
| - |
| 503 |
| Al |
| - |
| 20 |
List of Material Expected to beRecycled in this Process
Traditional battery recycling focuses on removingexpensive metals, leaving the balance of the materials to be sold,exported, or incinerated in a waste-to-energy program. This is furthercomplicated by the fact that each battery has its own structure andcomposition, and manufacturers are not required to disclose batterycontents. The EVSX battery recycling plant will recover typicalbattery materials as well as metal processing by-products.
| Sub-System |
| Recuperated Material |
| Cells |
| Active Cathode Material Lithium Cobalt Nickel Manganese Fer Aluminum Black Mass Graphite Particle (PVDF)-Copper Aluminum |
| LiPF6 – Electrolyte Ethylene carbonate -Electrolyte Dimethyl carbonate- Electrolyte |
| Polypropylene – Plastic Polyethylene - Plastic Polyethylene terephthalate – Plastic |
| Modules (casings) |
| Copper Aluminum Polyethylene Electronic |
| Packs (global casing) |
| Copper Aluminum Steel Isolation Cooling Liquid Electronic |
Regional Logistics
Figure 16 of Report- Baie-Comeauindustrial port zone (Ville Baie Comeau, 2018)
Figure 17 of Report - Map of the railnetwork around Baie-Comeau (ID Manicouagan, 2020-05a)
Local Economic Impact Benefits
The report outlines the advantages of choosing theBaie-Comeau area for the project’s first industrial plant beyond theinfrastructure and geographical location. In addition, the proximityof the Alcoa aluminum plant is of additional positive meritidentified. The research highlights that the level of support theproject is receiving from the City of Baie-Comeau and localgovernments, for what is overall a small $30 million phase 1 project,would not necessarily be received similarly in other markets.Baie-Comeau is orienting its future development around battery metals,green energy, and the transport industry. The region sees the EVSXproject as a steppingstone capable of attracting complementaryprojects over time.
Conclusion of the Report, Excerpttranslated from French
The battery recycling plant project presented by EVSXfinds its strength in its:
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- Original approach to the different stages ofseparation, distinct from the competition, and ongoing R&D
- Process flexibility to handle batteries with variablecompositions
- Potential for upgrading acid residues
- Expertise in processing minerals in solution
Through its location, the project also leverages otherassets:
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- Strong logistics infrastructure (boats, trucks,trains) in the region
- Possibility of receiving materials from Europe andthe USA
- Ongoing discussions with players who supply batteriesto be recycled
- Ongoing discussions with potential customers of thematerials that will be produced
EVSX's business plan for the coming months is toconfirm these strengths, for example, by securing various letters ofintent, and to refine the elements of the project under review as ofthe publication date of this report. Among these elements, we mayquote:
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- The detailed definition of the recycling process andits costing
- Establishing R&D partnerships to carry out thisproject
- The protection of the intellectual propertycreated
- Establishing partnerships with batterycollectors
- Consolidation of the economic and financial model ofthe pilot plant
- Finding financial resources to invest in the pilotinstallation
The first phase of this feasibility study highlightedthe challenges to be tackled in the coming weeks, as well as theopportunities for competitive differentiation. It did not identify anybarriers that would prevent the continuation of the pilot-plantproject business opportunity analysis.
About Globerpro
Founded in 1998 in Montreal, Globerpro Internationalsupports businesses in their transformation and development projects.Globerpro’s mission is to support companies by addressing thestrategic issues and challenges they face and to help them stand outthrough innovation and the quality of their management. Over theyears, the team has earned an enviable reputation for its approach,its knowledge of the markets, the validity of its actionablerecommendations, and its ability to carry projects to concreteoutcomes that benefit clients.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
“ Frank Dumas”
FRANCOIS (FRANK) DUMAS
Director & COO
A bout St-Georges
St-Georges is developing new technologies to solve some of the most common environmental problems in the miningindustry. The Company controls all the active mineral tenures inIceland. It also explores for nickel & PGEs on the Julie Nickel Project and the Manicougan Palladium Project on the Québec’s North Shore. Headquartered in Montreal, St-Georges’ stock is listed on the CSE under thesymbol SX, on the US OTC under the Symbol SXOOF and on the FrankfurtStock Exchange under the symbol 85G1.
The Canadian Securities Exchange(CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for theadequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release.
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