Umicore becomes Terrafame’s latest nickel sulphate customer

Terrafame has revealed that it has successfully completed the qualification process and that commercial deliveries have already started with further ramp up expected through 2023. It is believed that this agreement will cover a substantial portion of Umicore’s future nickel requirements for its cathode materials plant in Poland.

Terrafame produces nickel and cobalt sulphate at its Sotkamo plant in Finland as part of a fully integrated operation including the Talvivaara mine. The operation utilises bioleaching to recover metals from concentrate to form Ni-Co mixed sulphide precipitate (MSP). With the strong outlook for nickel sulphate demand from the EV battery sector, Terrafame opted to construct a battery chemicals plant and saw first production of nickel sulphate in 2021.

The agreement with Umicore is the latest in a string of deals for Terrafame. Last December, Renault signed a multi-year agreement for nickel sulphate supply and, although it did not disclose specifics on the volumes involved, the deal provides Renault with enough nickel sulphate for over 200,000 EVs per year. We estimate that this represents approximately a fifth of Terrafame’s annual output. This was quickly followed by the completion of a five-year supply agreement with automotive manufacturer Stellantis for nickel sulphate starting in 2025.

Terrafame’s latest deals are clear evidence of the desire of downstream players in the battery value chain to snap up European-produced battery-grade nickel on a long-term basis. The result is that the availability of this type of nickel further decreases at a time when the procurement race continues to accelerate.