Skip to main content

EIA procedure for investments in the battery value chain launched

The ELY Centre for Southeast Finland has published an EIA programme submitted by Finnish Minerals Group’s project company.

Published

05. March 2020

On behalf of its project company, Finnish Battery Chemicals Oy, Finnish Minerals Group has submitted an EIA programme to the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centre) for Southeast Finland. The submitting of the programme launches the Environmental Impact Assessment procedure.

Next, the Southeast Finland ELY Centre will collect written opinions on the EIA programme by 14 April, 2020 and ensure that the necessary statements are sought regarding the programme. Within one month after the deadline, the ELY Centre will issue its statement on the programme to Finnish Battery Chemicals Oy.

In the EIA programme, the party responsible for the project explains the project options and the current state of the environment at the alternative locations (see below) and presents a plan for the topics that will be assessed during the EIA procedure. The EIA programme phase will be completed during spring 2020. The EIA programme is followed by the EIA report, which will outline the results of the assessment and examine the feasibility of the project from the perspective of environmental impact. Finnish Battery Chemicals Oy will make a separate decision at a later date on progressing to the report phase.

The EIA programme includes four implementation options

Based on a preliminary study, the potential locations for the precursor (pCAM) plant included in the EIA programme are Kokkola, Vaasa, Kotka and Hamina. Vaasa and Kotka are considered as potential locations for the cathode active material (CAM) plant.

In addition to the locations, three production capacity options are considered for both plants, amounting to 20,000, 60,000 and 120,000 tonnes per year (t/a).

In the now published EIA programme, the options are defined as follows:

Option 1
Option 1 examines the placement of the pCAM and CAM plants in the Laajametsä industrial site in Vaasa, possibly extending, to a small degree, into the municipality of Mustasaari.

Option 2
Option 2 examines the placement of the pCAM and CAM plants in the Keltakallio area of Kotka.

Option 3
Option 3 examines the placement of the pCAM plant in the Kokkola Industrial Park and the placement of the CAM plant in the Laajametsä industrial site in Vaasa.

Option 4
Option 4 examines the placement of the pCAM plant in Hillonkylä, Hamina, and the placement of the CAM plant in the Keltakallio area of Kotka.

Option 0
In option zero, the project is not implemented, i.e. no plants are established.

In addition to these options, the assessment produces material that can also be used to examine the placement of the pCAM plant in Kokkola and the CAM plant in Kotka, as well as the placement of the pCAM plant in Hamina and the CAM plant in Vaasa.

Local public events cancelled - webinar to be held on 25 March 

The Southeast Finland ELY Centre, Finnish Battery Chemicals Oy’s parent company, Finnish Minerals Group, and its consulting company, Ramboll Finland Oy, will be presenting the EIA procedure and the project in a webinar an electric conference on Wednesday, 25 March starting at 5:30pm. The webinar will be held in Finnish. Earlier announced local public events have been cancelled due to corona. 

Direct link to webinar

You can also send questions to presenters via the webinar link. 

Investment negotiations continue alongside the EIA procedure

Alongside the EIA procedure, Finnish Minerals Group is continuing negotiations regarding investments in precursor and cathode active material plants with potential partner companies. The aim of Finnish Minerals Group is to finalise agreements with partner companies to establish new industry in Finland as a co-owner.

“Most lithium-ion batteries for electric cars are currently manufactured in Asia, but the growth of European car production requires local, European battery cell manufacturing. However, the European battery production and the cathode material production to support it that have been planned so far are not enough to meet the strongly growing demand in Europe. This provides us with business opportunities throughout the battery value chain,” says Vesa Koivisto, SVP, Battery Value Chain at Finnish Minerals Group.

The value chain for electric car batteries covers minerals, chemicals, components, battery cells and packs as well as the reuse and recycling of batteries and their materials. In addition to the production of precursor and cathode active materials, Finnish Minerals Group is looking for investment partners for domestic cell production and recycling.

 

More information about the EIA programme:

Finnish environmental administration (in Finnish)

More information for the media:

SVP, Battery Value Chain Vesa Koivisto, +358 50 453 6322, vesa.koivisto@mineralsgroup.fi
CEO Matti Hietanen, +358 40 823 8806, matti.hietanen@mineralsgroup.fi

Terms used in the text:

pCAM – precursor cathode active material, preliminary stage of the lithium-ion battery cathode active material.
CAM – cathode active material, a powdery end-product used in cathode manufacturing at cell plants.

 

This new has been updated on 16 March, 2020 after the cancellation of the local events. 

Published

05. March 2020