The study examined the construction of a battery-grade nickel sulfate refinery in Ontario, Canada, by 2025-26, viewed capital costs of between US$550 million and $650 million for a 10,000 tonnes per annum integrated facility.
It would produce nickel sulfate and nickel equivalent precursor cathode active material, or pCAM.
Operating costs on an integrated basis were anticipated to be between $125 million and $133 million per year, or between $13,000 and $13,600 per tonne, excluding byproduct credits.
The facility is expected to contribute $225 million of GDP impact during the construction phase, including $112 million in salaries and $35 million in taxes plus an additional $415 million during the first ten years of operations - including $111 million of salaries and $78 million of taxes.
Electra said the 10,000tpa production could support domestic manufacturing of up to 250,000 fully electric vehicles per year.
"With US electric vehicle manufacturers moving swiftly to reduce reliance on Chinese and Russian critical minerals in order to qualify for the $7,500 EV credit under the Inflation Reduction Act, Electra is capitalisation on the opportunity to provide secure domestic supply of EV battery materials," Electra's CEO Trent Mell said.
Electra's VP of engineering Dave Marshall said: "By using a phased approach towards project development and exploring collaboration opportunities for manganese and pCAM production, we will look towards reducing capital and operating costs as we launch our engineering prefeasibility study".
Red Cloud Securities said the study should increase the attractiveness of Electra "as a one-stop shop for multiple lithium-ion battery cathode raw materials".
"In our view, while these are initial, positive results that support the creation of an integrated battery materials park, the focus continues to remain on the ongoing construction of the cobalt refinery where commissioning is anticipated in Spring/23," Red Cloud said.
Following the commissioning of the cobalt refinery, Electra's plan is to begin lithium-ion battery recycling in 2023, produce battery-grade nickel sulfate in 2024, and see battery precursor manufacturing in 2025.
The park's products are to include cobalt, nickel, lithium, copper, graphite, and precursors.
Electra had a share price of C$3.89 (US$6.33) and a market capitalisation of C$126.23 million on 11 September.
Red Cloud targets a share price of C$11.75 for Electra.
