EIA procedure to start on anode material plant for Vaasa, Finland

Epsilon Advanced Materials Oy and Finnish Battery Chemicals Oy, a project company of Finnish Minerals Group, have submitted an EIA programme concerning an anode material plant to the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for South Ostrobothnia (ELY Centre), which acts as the project’s coordinating authority. The submitting of the programme launches the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure.

The EIA procedure examines two options, which are a capacity of 10,000 tonnes and a capacity of 50,000 tonnes of graphite-based anode material per year. These capacities correspond to battery production capacity of approximately 10 GWh and 200,000 electric cars or approximately 50 GWh and one million electric cars, respectively. The by-products of the production process include fine particles of natural graphite and coke, as well as pitch oil.

The anode material plant is planned to be established in the GigaVaasa industrial area located in Vaasa.

The EIA programme process to advance in the spring

The South Ostrobothnia ELY Centre will collect written opinions on the EIA programme and ensure that the necessary statements are sought regarding the programme. After that, the ELY Centre will issue its statement on the EIA programme to Epsilon Advanced Materials and Finnish Battery Chemicals.

In the EIA programme, the options and the schedule are explained, and a plan covering what will be assessed during the EIA procedure, how the assessments will be carried out, and how participation and communication will be organised is presented.

The EIA programme phase is followed by the drafting of the EIA report, which will outline the results of the assessment defined in the program and examine the feasibility of the project from the perspective of environmental impact. Epsilon Advanced Materials and Finnish Battery Chemicals will decide later about proceeding to the EIA report phase.

According to the preliminary schedule, the construction of the first phase production plant is estimated to take place in 2024–2026.

The EIA programme has two options

The options of the published EIA programme are as follows:

• Option VE0: The project is not implemented
• Option VE1a: To implement an anode material plant with a production capacity of 10,000 tonnes
• Option VE1b: To implement an anode material plant with a production capacity of 50,000 tonnes

ELY Center publishes the EIA program at www.ymparisto.fi after becoming familiar with it.

Public event to be held later in April

An information and discussion event on the EIA programme, open to the public, will be held on Wednesday 26 April 2023 at 18–20 in Vaasa in address Futura I, Yrittäjänkatu 17, 65380 Vaasa, meeting room Prima, 1st floor. The event can also be attended online.

The event focuses on presenting the project and the EIA programme. The public will have an opportunity to present their views on the EIA programme, obtain information and discuss the project with Epsilon Advanced Materials and Finnish Battery Chemicals representatives, the coordinating authority and the experts who assisted in preparing the EIA programme.

“European battery cell production is increasing significantly in the coming years, and it needs more active materials. The plant we are planning in Vaasa is one of Europe's first plants producing anode material, which would increase our continent's self-sufficiency in this industry,” says Vesa Koivisto, SVP, Battery Value Chain at Finnish Minerals Group.

Key terms:

Anode – the negative electrode in lithium-ion batteries, paired with cathode materials in a lithium-ion cell. The charging speed and the number of charge cycles of a battery is largely determined by the anode material.

Further information:

Vesa Koivisto, SVP, Finnish Minerals Group
firstname.lastname(at)mineralsgroup.fi, +358 50 453 6322

Finnish Minerals Group and Epsilon Advanced Materials sign a MoU on anode materials project (28 October 2022)

The mission of Finnish Minerals Group is to responsibly maximise the value of Finnish minerals. We manage the State’s mining industry holdings and strive to develop the Finnish value chain of lithium-ion batteries. Through our work, we contribute to Europe moving towards electric transport and a more sustainable future.  www.mineralsgroup.fi