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- Neometals’ (NMT) half-owned company, Primobius GmbH, commissions the front-end circuit of its lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycling demonstration plant
- Based in Germany, the facility aims to remove metal electrodes, plastic separators and casings, and produce cathode and anode materials for refining
- Testing of the demo plant will help inform an investment decision by NMT and its joint venture partner in relation to a commercial LIB recycling plant
- Stage two commissioning of the refining circuit is scheduled for September with trials set to wrap up in November
- Neometals shares are up 13.3 per cent to 85 cents each at 10:06 am AEST
Neometals’ (NMT) half-owned company, Primobius GmbH, has commissioned the front-end shredding and beneficiation circuit at its lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycling demonstration plant.
Based in Germany, the joint venture (JV) is fifty-per-cent-owned by SMS group GmbH, and the plant housed inside SMS’s engineering competence centre in Hilchenbach.
Stage one commissioning included charging up the front-end circuit to process both dummy and charged electric vehicle LIBs to generate plastic, steel and foil product streams together with intermediate active material known as “black mass”.
To date the facility has produced around 1.5 tonnes of black mass, which will be refined in stage two.
To this end, the facility also comprises a back-end pyrometallurgical refining circuit, which is currently progressing through mechanical and electrical installation ahead of commissioning in September.
The refinery circuits will be sequentially dry and wet commissioned before black mass is processed in two campaigns.
Ultimately, these activities will produce, among other materials, high-purity metal sulphate products for evaluation by potential customers, partners and off takers.
Importantly, the fully integrated and continuous trial of the demo plant is one of the key evaluation activities required by the JV owners to make an investment decision on the construction of Primobius’ first commercial LIB recycling plant.
In a statement today, Neometals said the safe commissioning of the front-end was a significant step for Primobius and meant the company could move towards trialling activities with tested systems that have been run in real-world conditions.
Following commissioning of the refinery circuit in September, the company said all trials were due to be completed by November.
On Thursday, Neometals shares were trading 13.3 per cent higher at 85 cents each at 10:06 am AEST.
