Echion’s new niobium mine in Brazil ‘is safe and sustainable’
Echion is sourcing its niobium from a new facility in Araxá, Brazil, which is operated by CBMM, Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração.
Founded in the 1950s and with shareholders including a Japanese-Korean group and a Chinese steelmakers’ consortium, CBMM is the global leader in the production and commercialisation of niobium.
The new plan is the largest niobium-based anode production facility in the world, capable of producing 2,000 tons per year of XNO, equivalent to 1 GWh of lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells.
The plant was opened at a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by CBMM, Echion and its customers, government representatives, senior leadership teams from both companies, and journalists from Brazilian media outlets.
Echion’s niobium-based anode material, XNO, enables Li-ion batteries to ultra-fast charge safely, maintain high-energy densities even at extreme temperatures, and deliver high power across a cycle life of more than 10,000 cycles. XNO has been specifically engineered to allow electrified heavy-duty industrial, commercial and mass-transport vehicles to operate with the highest productivity and the lowest total cost of ownership.
Speaking at the event, Jean de La Verpilliere, CEO of Echion Technologies, said: “The opening of this production plant creates robust supply capacity to meet the significant commercial demand we have for XNO. XNO is already having a positive impact on our cell manufacturing customers, downstream OEMs, and end-users. Echion is beginning to trade at scale, and that is a major milestone for company growth. I would like to thank CBMM for their ongoing partnership with Echion to bring XNO to mass production.”
Brazil has approximately 98 per cent of the known reserves of niobium globally, and CBMM’s open-pit mine is the largest niobium mine in the world.
The industry has grown quickly, but has a toxic legacy. The process CBMM used from 1982 to extract niobium from the ore produced a chemical reaction that created barium chloride, a toxic compound that was then dumped in the mine’s waste dams. This then polluted the watercourses below the dam. CBMM has since signed a rectification agreement.
Responding to questions about environmental ethics in the vital component in the new EV era, a spokesperson for Echion said: “Echion holds its supply chain to the highest ethical and operational standards possible. CBMM was selected as a supplier because it meets and exceeds those standards. The new XNO production plant has been built on an existing brownfield site within CBMM’s industrial complex in Araxá, Brazil.
“At Echion, we take matters relating to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) standards extremely seriously; they reflect our core values and commitment to responsible business practices. We also recognise the importance of ESG standards to our customers and partners, and are confident about CBMM’s commitment to ESG and about the way that the company operates.
“CBMM runs a safe and sustainable operation and is accountable to internationally recognised high ESG standards.”
