MethodologyContact usSupportLogin
Key takeaways:
“We can call the new brand after a production facility: Yuma Metal or Yuma Cobalt, or we can call it USA Cobalt,” Gil Michel-Garcia, executive vice-president and general counsel of EVelution Energy, told Fastmarkets in an exclusive interview.
EVelution Energy positions itself as “the first commercial-scale cobalt sulfate and cobalt metal processor in the United States”. It aims to produce alloy-grade cobalt on its solar-powered refinery in Arizona, USA, which is due to be operational in 2029, the company announced on May 13.
In 2027, EVelution Energy aims to send metal samples from its test facility in Finland for aerospace and defense certification. A Finnish company, Metso (formerly Metso Outotec), is developing the test facility “with our flow sheet and the input”, Michel-Garcia told Fastmarkets.
Getting that certification “might take two, three years since sending these samples”, Michel-Garcia estimated.
Construction of the Yuma refinery in Yuma County, Arizona, is expected to start in 2027, with completion targeted by the end of 2029.
“We are going to start at full capacity,” Michel-Garcia said about the Yuma plant, adding that “the hydrometallurgical process is not novel and does not need a long ramp-up process”.
Alloy-grade cobalt applications include, but are not limited to, alloys for rotating engine parts, essential for aerospace and defense.
Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment for cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam was $28.50-30.25 per lb on Thursday May 14, unchanged since April 28.
EVelution targets production of 20,000 tonnes of battery-grade cobalt sulfate (or approximately 4,000 tonnes of cobalt metal contained, based on 20% cobalt content) and up to 3,000 tonnes of alloy-grade cobalt metal, it said on May 13.
“About half of our product is going to be metal, half of our product is going to be sulfate,” Michel-Garcia said, adding that they aim to develop a technical ability to change this ratio as needed.
EVelution is trying to build a flexible facility to address changing market conditions, according to Michel-Garcia.
“We are replicating what the Chinese do — we are building a production line that could be adjusted to increase the output of either sulfate or metal production, and to be able to dilute metal to produce sulfate,” he said.
Want to learn more about what is happening at the cutting-edge of critical minerals and battery raw materials? Listen to our Fast Forward podcast series for insight, debate and news from the major players.
The US regulatory policy, especially the Project Vault, should help reach different consumers, in EVelution’s view.
“If they allowed us, [we] would be very interested in participating in Project Vault, because we would like to stockpile metal,” Michel-Garcia said.
Project Vault, announced in February 2026, is a US initiative to stockpile critical minerals for the civilian economy backed by $10 billion financing through the US Export-Import bank (EXIM). This is separate from the US governments’ procurement of critical minerals through its Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which handles military and defense stockpiling.
So far, the major participants of the Project Vault are OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), which are the owners and shareholders of the Project Vault entities, and traders who secure raw materials, according to Michel-Garcia.
In his view, once the project is “up and running”, the Vault membership could be extended to “sufficient counterparties that are creditworthy” and could participate in the raw materials supply chain.
Then, EVelution could sell its metal to traders who are a part of the Project Vault, where it could be held and released as needed.
The company also plans to supply the aerospace and defense industry.
“The aerospace and defense market in the United States now understands that the government is serious about [securing supply of] critical raw materials and therefore they have to locate domestic sources or allied sources, and that means they are going to have to pay a premium,” Michel-Garcia said.
Both Republicans and Democrats are “very focused” on onshoring the supply of critical minerals as well as re-industrializing to boost domestic production in the US, Michel-Garcia said.
So far, the planned output from the new Yuma facility would be marketed through a Japan-based trader, Mitsui & Co.
In April 2025, EVelution Energy signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Mitsui to supply the company with “substantially all of the cobalt metal and cobalt sulfate production” from its planned refinery.
According to Michel-Garcia, the hydroxide feedstock for metal and sulfate production would come from several sources in the DRC, a key cobalt mining country.
The primary supplier is ERG (Eurasian Resources Group), a Luxembourg-headquartered miner with operations in the DRC, Brazil and Kazakhstan. Additional spot requirements could be fulfilled through Swiss miner and trader Glencore, which owns copper-cobalt mines in the DRC, Michel-Garcia told Fastmarkets in the interview.
Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on May 13, cobalt hydroxide would also come from EGC, the Congolese state entity responsible for formalizing and marketing artisanal cobalt, with trader Trafigura overseeing logistics, marketing and transporting of this material.
Cobalt would come to the US via the Lobito Atlantic Railway — a railroad spanning DRC and Angola, leading to the port of Lobito. Trafigura, a project shareholder, started using it in early 2026.
“Trafigura’s position as a shareholder of the Lobito Atlantic Railway, combined with our existing collaboration with EGC, places us in a uniquely strong position to deliver Congolese cobalt to international markets efficiently and at scale,” Gonzalo De Olazaval, global head of metals and minerals at Trafigura, said in a press release.
The EGC CEO Eric Kalala welcomed the agreement in a press release, calling EVelution’s project “a high-value outlet for artisanal production”, in line with the strategic agreement between the United States and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed in December 2025.
“Trafigura will supply us not just from EGC sources, but also probably from a DRC mining company, Chemaf,” Michel-Garcia added.
In March, the DRC authorities approved the sale of a DRC copper-cobalt mining company, Chemaf, to Virtus Lloyds Minerals Holding (VLMH), a US‑backed mining and investment company, according to media reports.
Chemaf has two copper-cobalt assets in the DRC – an Etoile mine and plant in Lumumbashi, and a Mutoshi concession in Kolwezi – and neither is in production recently, according to Fastmarkets analysts. Trafigura had an offtake agreement for cobalt hydroxide with Chemaf from 2018 to 2020.
EVelutions’ requirements for material “should match” the availability of the feedstock, including from Chemaf’s assets, according to Michel-Garcia’s interview, as Evelution’s facility is “also not in production for two years”.
As part of the engagement with the DRC, EVelution is training its workforce.
“We offered to bring over some of their workforce and put them through the same training courses that we have for our employees so they can begin to train them up on metallurgical processing, cobalt sulfate production, cobalt metal production”.
“That was very appealing to the Congolese”, Michel-Garcia added.
The focus of the DRC authorities recently has been on building processing capacities in the mining country, Fastmarkets reported.
EVelution is “working on the firm commitment” from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), Michel-Garcia said, aiming to raise “equity component after the firm commitment from EXIM is given”.
They are also discussing a loan for $70 million from Finnvera, the Finnish Export-Import bank, Michel-Garcia told Fastmarkets.
So far, in 2024, the company received a non-binding Letter of Interest (LOI) from US EXIM for a loan of up to $200 million.
Commenting on the state of the cobalt market, Michel-Garcia said that the cobalt hydroxide payable indicator matters more than the metal price.
Fastmarkets’ twice-weekly assessment for cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) was at 99.5%-100.5% on Wednesday May 13, flat since March 6 on a tight market, having hit 100% on October 17, 2025.
The cobalt hydroxide on the spot market has been scarce due to an ongoing export quota system in the DRC introduced in October 2025, which followed an export ban that lasted from February to October that year.
“[Cobalt] hydroxide payable on an eight-year basis is around 75%. That’s how we’re viewing the market on a long-term basis — the hydroxide payable being a median of 75%,” Michel-Garcia added.
Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam was $25.65-26.80 per lb on May 14, unchanged from the day before.
“We are indifferent to the price of cobalt; we are not indifferent to the processing margin spread between hydroxide and metal,” Michel-Garcia said.
Sebastian Evelyn in London contributed to the story
[This article was updated to amend the volume of planned cobalt metal production mentioned in the first paragraph to 3,000 tonnes per year from 4,000 tonnes per year.]
Interested in cobalt economic modeling? Discover our long-term forecasts for staying ahead of this evolving market.