This week’s Wyloo Metals precursor CAM plant MOU and an alliance with the city of Kingston are concrete signs of Sudbury’s determination to be a major player in Ontario’s EV supply chain

It has the minerals and it has the mines. Now, there is an announcement about a new mine-to-precursor cathode active material plant and a critical minerals alliance with a sister city in the province.

The BEV-in-Depth conference in Sudbury this week sent a strong signal that the city — long regarded as the hard rock mining capital of Canada — is vying to be seen as the portal between raw and refined minerals in Ontario’s EV battery supply chain.

Since Canada made a commitment to onshoring an EV battery supply chain to support the EV manufacturing industry, Sudbury has been chasing the coveted status of Ontario’s critical minerals refinery epicentre.

“We are a town built around a mining camp,” says Paul Lefebvre, mayor of Sudbury, in an interview with Electric Autonomy. “What we have [in Sudbury] is very unique. We have the mines, we have the people and we have the expertise…and we have, in Canada, some of the highest environmental standards in the world.”

There is a push from government and industry to create a value-added hub in an area historically viewed as a raw material supplier only. It is creating an opportunity closely reminiscent of another industry and area of Canada.

“We would really like to be the new Fort Mac,” says Lefebvre. “I think we could be that.”

New deals set the tone

A pair of announcements at the two-day BEV-in-Depth event could help Sudbury stake its claim to that title.

First, Wyloo Metals announced it is entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Greater Sudbury “to secure a parcel of land to build a downstream battery materials processing facility.”

That downstream facility will refine precursor cathode active material (pCAM), the base of the cathode active material used to make the cathodes found in lithium-ion batteries.

Following that, Sudbury and the city of Kingston announced the formation of the Kingston-Greater Sudbury Critical Minerals Alliance.

The alliance’s goal, according to Lefebvre and Kingston mayor Bryan Paterson, is to spur innovation and cooperation by connecting mines, cleantech and mineral processing companies in the two cities. Intended outcomes include new strategic partnerships and a boost for Ontario’s EV and battery supply chain.

Sudbury’s first cathode refinery

Wyloo Metals is owned by Tattarang, an Australian private investment firm. It comprises of three branches: Wyloo Ring of Fire and Wyloo Kambalda.

Wyloo Ring of Fire is developing the Eagle’s Nest nickel, copper, platinum, palladium and chromite deposits in the James Bay Lowlands or, as it’s known colloquially, Ontario’s Ring of Fire.

In a perfect world, the raw materials from Wyloo’s Ring of Fire site will ship out by road to its Sudbury refinery. Then they will travel on by rail to battery makers in the southern parts of Canada.

“Our deposit is located roughly about 1,100 to 1,200 kilometres away from Sudbury. It’s quite a distance,” says Kristan Straub, CEO of Wyloo.

“We’re building an operation that follows the construction plan of the roads. We will take a portion of [the material] by bulk transportation to a railway and then transfer. We can move the largest part by rail afterwards along the installed infrastructure that exists.”

Sudbury critical minerals investment

The MOU with Wyloo is the result of three years of wooing, say Sudbury city officials.

At first blush, Thunder Bay or Timmins may seem more likely to support a cathode plant given their closer proximity to the Ring of Fire.

However, a few factors come into play with critical minerals refining that made Sudbury a more appealing choice.

The first is that, according to Lefebvre, Sudbury already has the expertise and supplies to refine minerals.

Straub agrees, stating, “the ecosystem that exists here from mine supply and services is phenomenal. Sudbury is by and large the largest participant in this particular sector.”

Sudbury is also one of five places in Canada where both Canadian Pacific and Canadian National railway lines — essential in the shipping of critical minerals — intersect.

Finally, there is the access to land already zoned for mining and refining industry use.

“It’s not like it’s one and we are done. We have land for a few of these plants,” says Lefebvre, who confirms Sudbury will be pursuing more value-added investment.

“Would Vale refine the minerals they mine here? Would Glencore? Maybe,” says Lefebvre.

“Already [since the Wyloo announcement] my office is getting calls. Lots of companies are now looking at what Wyloo has done and saying, ‘What could we do?'”