Global cobalt and nickel supplier Jervois (ASX:JRV) reports it has entered into a raw material supply agreement with Traxys Europe for the supply of mixed hydroxide product (MHP) for the restart phase of the São Miguel Paulista nickel cobalt refinery in Brazil.
The supply agreement between the company’s commercial arm Jervois Switzerland and Traxys is expected to provide a base load of MHP of up to about 25% of São Miguel Paulista’s annual nickel feed requirement over an initial period of 36 months.
Jervois reports it is initially restarting São Miguel Paulista in a staged, ‘capital efficient’ manner below its previous 25,000 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) nickel capacity, which formed the basis of the Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) completed in April 2022.
The expected initial refined production is 10,000mtpa nickel, and 2,000mtpa cobalt metal cathode. The restart of São Miguel Paulista is expected at the end of Q1 2024.
The company says it remains engaged in ongoing discussions with other MHP suppliers for additional feed supply. Jervois approved its Final Investment Decision (FID) on the São Miguel Paulista refinery in November 2022, and since then has begun restart capital deployment.
Traxys is a Luxembourg-based physical commodity trader and merchant in the metals and natural resources sector. The company handles logistics, marketing, distribution, supply chain management, and trading activities across its 20 offices around the world for non-ferrous metals, ferro-alloys, minerals, industrial raw materials, and energy.
Jervois is an ASX-listed company aiming to become the leading global supplier of cobalt and nickel minerals for the battery, and chemicals markets.
The company’s portfolio includes a production facility in Finland which manufactures cobalt powders and cobalt-based inorganic salts and oxides, as well as the Idaho Cobalt Operations in the US, the São Miguel Paulista Nickel-Cobalt Refinery in Brazil, and the Nico Young Nickel-Cobalt deposit in New South Wales.