The plans of Eramet and Suez were already there well advanced: the recycling plant was to consist of two parts – a dismantling plant and a hydrometallurgical plant – and be located in the Grand Port Maritime of Dunkirk (Dunkirk). When the partners’ plans were first presented in March 2022, there was talk of construction starting in 2024 and a subsequent processing capacity of 50,000 tonnes of battery modules per year.

However, Eramet is now pulling the emergency brake: “Due to the lack of acceleration in Europe of battery factories and their components (precursors and cathode materials), there are currently major uncertainties regarding the supply of raw materials to the factory, and about opportunities for recycling metal salts,” the company writes. “The necessary conditions for the realization of a hydrometallurgical battery recycling facility project in France are therefore not met and the Group has decided to suspend the project.” Elsewhere in the current annual report, it simply says: “Suspension of the battery recycling project, pending a solid and sustainable economic model in Europe.”

In a corporate interview on the Eramet website, Geoff Streeton, Executive Vice President & Chief Development Officer, goes into more detail about the background of the decision: “We remain convinced of the need to develop a circular economy for critical metals on European soil and battery recycling at end of life will be a key element in this future value chain,” says the manager. “But we have to face the reality of the market.”

In Streeton’s eyes, Europe’s EV battery value chain is off to a rocky start. Given the very slow ramp-up of battery factories, the company is currently unable to secure the supply of raw materials for its own factory project. “And downstream, there are no customers for recycled metal salts as no European cathode precursor projects have been confirmed,” explained Streeton. Therefore, the sound and sustainable economic conditions for such a project are not in place. At least for now. “However, we will continue to study the market fundamentals needed to make such a project competitive,” added the manager.

A month ago, Stellantis and Orano already did canceled a planned joint venture to recycle electric car batteries in France – without giving any reason. The letter of intent signed by both parties in October 2023 actually provided for the joint recycling of used batteries and production waste from factories in the Greater Europe and North America regions. First, the so-called black mass was to be extracted from the spent batteries using a process developed by Orano, before being broken down into its original components in the next step at Orano’s hydrometallurgical plant. Orano is building this plant in France. This should give Stellantis access to the materials to manufacture new battery cells from them (with other partners).

thelocal.fr, eramet.com (Q3 Report, PDF), eramet.com (interview with Geoff Streeton)