How to recycle batteries without smelting
Canada Silver Cobalt Works (TSXV: CCW) explained its Re-20x hydrometallurgical process to the audience as last week’s Bezinga virtual global small cap conference. The process involves no smelting of materials to recycle batteries in a cost competitive, environmentally sound and sustainable way, the company said.
Re-20x involves selective leaching, first in a reactor that removes arsenic and other undesirable metals. Copper arsenate for wood preservation is produced. A second reactor basically puts all the metals into solution from which they can be selectively removed as per a customer’s specifications. The second reactor also produces a rare earths and alkali metals stream.
Canada Silver Cobalt CEO Frank Basa has been working on the Re-20x process since the 1980s. In 2018 it was proven to produce a 22.6% cobalt sulphate and achieve 99% cobalt recovery. Earlier this year, the company retained SGS to build a pilot plant for battery metals production, and recycling tests began in March 2021. After successfully piloting the process, a larger plant can be built to produce greater quantities of such metals.
