Automotive News Canada - August 2022 - 4

4
* AUGUST 2022
Ontario's east
gets spark from
battery plant
Leaders see region
rising as a key link in
the EV supply chain
By DAVID KENNEDY
T ORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
THE $1.5-BILLION BATTERYmaterials
plant near Kingston,
Ont., planned by Belgium-based
Umicore, could help establish an
automotive ecosystem in a region
of Ontario long overshadowed by
industry strongholds elsewhere
in the province, while further
cementing Canada's place in the
North American electric-vehicle
supply chain.
Umicore CEO Mathias
Miedreich, Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau and other government
officials were at Queen's
University in Kingston on July
13 to announce plans for the
plant in Loyalist Township, nested
within Lennox and
Addington County.
" We've broken
through that barrier
of automotive coming
to Eastern Ontario, "
said Stephen Paul,
director of community
and development services
for Lennox and
Addington County.
" Now, I think people
and investors and companies
will see that the
opportunities that exist
east of Toronto are really
strong, from land
availability to skilled
talent. "
The site in Taylor Kidd
Industrial Park will cover two
key steps in preparing metals for
use in lithium-ion battery cells:
blending inputs such as lithium,
nickel, cobalt and manganese
into precursor cathode active
materials (PCAM), and then converting
the precursor to battery-ready
cathode active materials
(CAM).
Once at full capacity, the
sprawling plant will be capable
of producing CAM for up to one
million EV batteries per year.
Current projections from
AutoForecast Solutions, a U.S.based
forecasting company, show
North America EV production
at about five million vehicles per
year by the end of the decade.
The Umicore plant could supply
cathode material for as many as
20 per cent of the EVs built in
Canada, the United States and
Mexico by 2029.
'JUST THE BEGINNING'
Paul, whose economic development
office spent 10 months
spearheading the effort to secure
the investment, said the plant is
" just the beginning. " He expects
to see both spinoff investments
and renewed interest
in Eastern Ontario as
a destination for auto
investment.
Paul: " This is
going to be a
project we'll see
a lot of benefits
from. "
SUPPLIED PHOTO
The industry has
not bypassed the
region entirely, but
the sector's pervasive
presence along the
Highway 401 corridor
from Windsor, Ont.,
thins out eastward
from General Motors'
Oshawa Assembly
Plant. A few notable
exceptions: Magna
International Inc.,
which operates three
plants in Belleville; Ventra
Plastics in Peterborough; and
CpK Interior Products, with facilities
in Port Hope and Belleville.
But for companies scouting
locations, there can be advantages
to avoiding areas with a lot of
industry already in place, said
EXPANDING SUPPLY CHAIN
Kingston, Ont., is not a typical spoke in the wheel of the Canadian automotive
supply chain, but turn-key land and access to skilled labour and the U.S. market
swayed Umicore to invest $1.5 billion to build a battery materials plant. The
province took Umicore to a " menu " of possible sites across Ontario before the
company opted for the Kingston area, according to Vic Fedeli, Ontario's minister
of economic development, job creation and trade.
ONTARIO
Umicore plant
at Taylor Kidd
Industrial Park in
Loyalist Township
KINGSTON
Toronto
Lake Ontario
Montreal
Miedreich: Umicore liked
the region's talent, on top
of Ontario's clean-electricity
grid and Canada's available
resources. PHOTO: REUTERS
Vic Fedeli, Ontario's minister of
economic development, job creation
and trade.
" They have to spread out to
make sure that they have a good
talent pool available to them, "
Fedeli said. Ontario, with its
" vast " territory dotted with universities
and colleges to provide
well-trained talent, offers ample
opportunity beyond its traditional
automotive hotbed in the
southwest, he said.
The province took Umicore
to a " menu " of possible sites
across Ontario before the company
opted for the Kingston area,
Fedeli said. He would not say
how many sites.
Miedreich cited the area's talent
pool as among the company's
chief reasons for selecting
the site. He also pointed to wider-reaching
priorities, such as
Ontario's clean-electricity grid
and the availability of resources
within Canada.
EXPANSION? PERHAPS
As Umicore plans for the new
plant, scheduled to open by the
end of 2025, it is already considering
expansion. Aside from PCAM
and CAM, the company is exploring
further vertical integration
through mineral refining and
battery recycling at the 350-acre
site (140 hectares), Miedreich
said.
The Umicore plant would be
the first site in Canada to produce
PCAM and is among a
select few in North America targeting
CAM.
Detroit
Windsor
JEFF MELNYCHUK/AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA
NEW YORK
100 km
Canada is already well-positioned
for production of the mix
of materials that make up the
positive end of a battery cell. On
March 4, Germany-based chemical
company BASF announced
a battery-materials plant in
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, and Umicore CEO Mathias
Miedreich, right of Trudeau, announce plans on July 13 to build
a $1.5-billion battery-materials plant in Loyalist Township near
Kingston. PHOTO VIA TWITTER
Bécancour, Que. General Motors
made a similar but unrelated
announcement March 7.
The cost, availability and
shovel-readiness of land are
among the reasons the battery
supply chain is skewing east,
economic developers say. The
Umicore project reinforces the
importance of land preparedness,
said Jay Amer, executive director
of the Ontario East Economic
Development Commission, which
serves as a conduit between companies,
the province and regional
economic development agencies.
" Everybody's got a field, but
that doesn't quite cut it, " Amer
said. " The big challenge in our
communities is getting elected
officials to invest in having serviced
land investment- and shovel-ready. "
For
Umicore's deal, Loyalist
Township was prepared.
The municipality
owned the plot of
land outright, which
greatly simplified
the acquisition, said
Paul, the Lennox and
Addington County official.
The land was also
already zoned for manufacturing
and had the
proper road and rail
links.
STILL ACCESS TO U.S.
Umicore is also exploring
vertical integration through
mineral refining and battery
recycling at the site.
ILLUSTRATION FROM ISTOCK
AND SUPPLIED PHOTOS
I think people and investors
and companies will see that
the opportunities that exist
east of Toronto are really
strong, from land availability
to skilled talent.
STEPHEN PAUL
Director of community and
development services,
Lennox and Addington County
Eastern Ontario still offers vital
links south, Amer said.
Paul expects companies
to continue looking
east for a ready supply
of land that is " competitively
priced " compared
with the Greater Toronto
Area and southwestern Ontario.
The region does present some
challenges, particularly regarding
proximity to the United
States, but while it is farther
from the traditional automotive
heartland in the Midwest,
Fedeli: Ontario
has more
to offer the
industry in
regions outside
its automotive
hotbed in the
southwest.
FILE PHOTO
" A lot of companies that come
in [to Eastern Ontario],
they want to get into
the U.S. market, and
they suddenly realize
there are three uncongested
border crossings
[in the Kingston
area], " he said. " It's
not Windsor, it's not
Buffalo or Fort Erie,
and that's one of our
selling points. "
Like Paul, Amer
expects a major
change to the Eastern
Ontario investment climate
after Umicore's
announcement.
" I think of Toyota
going into Woodstock
[in 2009], and the world changed
there, " he said. " Seeing the
growth come in our direction is
something we work with every
day. ...This is going to be a project
we'll see a lot of benefits from,
and success breeds success. "
- ANC
Automotive News Canada - August 2022

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