Finnish Battery Chemicals pCAM Oy applies for permission to appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court for the precursor project's environmental permit

Finnish Battery Chemicals pCAM Oy (formerly CNGR Finland Oy), the project company for the Hamina plant, applies for permission to appeal to the decision of the Vaasa Administrative Court concerning the environmental permit for the precursor material (pCAM) project planned in Hamina. The project has previously received priority processing as a green transition project.

Finnish Battery Chemicals pCAM Oy has decided to apply for permission to appeal because, in the company's view, there is no defined Best Available Technology (BAT) for the treatment of sodium sulphate. However, the Administrative Court has defined possible BAT technologies for the project but has not provided justifications for its interpretations.

The court's decision imposes an obligation on the company to remove 90% of sodium sulphate from the discharge water. However, the specified permit limit is not justified by scientific facts, and it is unclear on what basis the limit is set. According to analyses and modelling commissioned by the company, the emission allowed by the original permit granted by the Regional Administrative Agency does not cause significant harm to the marine area.

In April 2025, the pCAM plant received environmental and operational permits, as well as preparation permits for the wastewater release pipelines and related dredging from the Regional Administrative Agency. The decision allows the operation to commence in accordance with the permit conditions applied for by the project company. Twelve parties appealed the permit decision to the Vaasa Administrative Court.

According to the decision, the sulphate concentration in the plant's discharge water would initially be 62 g/l, but the emission limit would decrease to 7 g/l two years after the start of operations.

More information

Timo Strengell, SVP, Battery Value Chain, Finnish Minerals Group
firstname.lastname(at)mineralsgroup.fi, tel. +358 40 738 4860

Precursor cathode active material (pCAM) is a preliminary stage of the cathode active material used to manufacture lithium-ion batteries.

Vaasa Administrative Court rules on Hamina pCAM plant project environmental permit appeals (news 25 April 2025)

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