Electra Provides Update on Refinery Project and Black Mass Economics; Launches Strategic Review Process

Electra Battery Materials Corporation (NASDAQ: ELBM; TSX-V: ELBM) (“Electra” or the “Company”) today released updated economics and capital spend estimates for its refinery complex currently under construction north of Toronto.

Pending completion, Electra’s refinery complex will be the first in North America to integrate the production of critical minerals, including cobalt sulfate and nickel sulfate, needed for the electric vehicle battery supply chain and the processing of black mass material designed to recover high value elements found in recycled lithium-ion batteries, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, graphite, and copper.

“Consistent with our recent disclosure, we completed a re-baseline engineering report to fully determine the impacts supply chain delays, inflationary price pressures, and scope changes have had on the capital budget required to complete our cobalt refinery project,” said Trent Mell, CEO of Electra. “In tandem, we also completed a desktop scoping study to assess the potential economics to process black mass material from recycled lithium-ion batteries at our refinery complex.

“As expected, the capital spend requirements for completing our refinery project have risen beyond our initial forecasts due to higher material and labor costs, scope expansion, and supply chain disruptions over the past 18 months. Offsetting this development are the compelling economics identified by our desktop scoping study to build a permanent black mass processing operation, given its low capital intensity estimated at US$6 million and its high rate of internal return of more than 120%. Leveraging existing infrastructure, equipment, permits, and personnel, Electra can quickly transition from a plant-scale demonstration facility to a scalable, continuous battery recycling operation in 12 months from financing.

“Development of both studies marks a significant step towards the completion of our integrated refinery complex and reduces considerable uncertainty from our efforts to secure the remaining capital needed from various stakeholders. We can now accelerate our funding efforts with government, commercial, and strategic partners, and prioritize the processing of black mass material given the anticipated payback of less than two years and estimated EBITDA of US$10 million per year,” Mr. Mell also said.