Terrafame will be the main supplier of battery-grade refined nickel products to the European electric vehicle (EV) market when demand penetrates the continent, company CEO Joni Lukkaroinen told Fastmarkets in an interview on June 5.
Finnish multi-metal company Terrafame, which is 22.7% owned by Dutch commodity trading company Trafigura, has been ramping up nickel and cobalt production for the past three and a half years in anticipation of the EV boom using an environmentally-friendly bioheap leaching process."We believe that we will be one of the major suppliers for the European car industry because of the sustainability and lower carbon footprint of our bioheap leaching process," Lukkaroinen said. Market participants expect demand for both nickel and cobalt to greatly increase once EV market penetration reaches double digits in 2025, given that the current most-favored battery - the '8:1:1' battery - comprises 8 parts nickel to one part cobalt and one part manganese. These batteries are also cheaper than their cobalt-heavy equivalent."EV demand is our main focus. By 2021, when our new battery chemical production plant is up and running, our complete nickel and cobalt volume will...