The Government of Canada has announced $10 million in total funding in support of two projects in Northern Ontario’s critical mineral sector.

Receiving $5 million each are Electra Battery Materials Corporation and the Mining Innovation Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corp (MIRARCO).

Electra will use the funding to advance the next phase of its battery materials recycling project.

The company is constructing North America’s only battery grade cobalt refinery, five hours north of Toronto, as part of a multiphase effort to build the North American supply chain for battery materials.

It successfully ran a demonstration recycling program on a batch basis at the facility in 2023.

This new funding from the federal government advances the project, demonstrating the process on a continuous basis and showing that Electra’s proprietary technology is scalable, profitable and can be implemented at other locations.

The battery materials recycling program will help conserve resources, reduce waste and reduce the environmental impact of battery production in North America’s critical minerals sector.

“Today’s funding announcement is a clear signal from the Government of Canada of its ongoing commitment to creating a strong, sustainable EV supply chain,” said Elecra CEO Trent Mell. “Our recycling project is part of the growth plan for our Ontario refinery complex, and we are thankful for this investment as it allows us to speed up the development of our proprietary critical minerals recycling technology. Electra’s battery recycling expertise can contribute to the production of clean, secure and ethically sourced materials for the EV supply chain in North America."

The funding for Electra builds on earlier investments in their project by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario in 2024 and 2020 to accelerate domestic production of battery-grade cobalt sulfate, a required element needed to produce long-range electric vehicles.

The new funding for MIRARCO, meanwhile, aims to advance technological readiness of the recovery of battery metals like nickel, cobalt and copper from mine tailings from the Vale and Glencore mines in the Greater Sudbury area, while reducing the long-term social and environmental costs associated with mine waste.

Through this project, MIRARCO will directly feed into the battery supply chain, potentially unlocking significant amounts of nickel and cobalt in Sudbury.

The two projects join nearly 130 mining projects under construction or planned over the next 10 years in Canada, representing a combined value of $93.5 billion, according to Natural Resources Canada’s Major Projects Inventory.

Already, mining in the critical minerals sector and related industries employ more than 625,000 Canadians and contribute around $100 billion a year to Canada’s GDP.

With the world’s largest integrated mining industrial complex and world’s second-largest nickel deposit, Northern Ontario is uniquely positioned to become a key player as the shift to electric vehicles and other technology requiring nickel and other critical minerals grows.