An electric battery technology company has expanded its search for domestic cobalt to Idaho.
The Toronto-based Electra Battery Materials Corporation announced on Wednesday that it has acquired a 5.3-square-kilometer (just over two-square-mile) land package that will allow for more exploration of cobalt near the company’s current excavation efforts in the Idaho Cobalt Belt (ICB), a close to 40-mile long and eight-mile-wide cobalt deposit in east-central Idaho.
An exploration and mining revival has come to the ICB with companies seeking to reduce their dependence on foreign-sourced cobalt, a component of electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
“Sourcing domestic supply of cobalt has become even more critical with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act,” Electra’s CEO Trent Mell said in a press release. “While our primary focus continues to centre on the commissioning of North American’s [sic] first cobalt sulfate refinery and launching our battery materials recycling demonstration plant in the coming weeks, advancing exploration activities in the Idaho Cobalt Belt are key to our long-term growth and efforts to onshore the EV battery supply chain.”…