Toronto, Ontario — In this week’s Tuesday Ticker, the federal and Ontario governments shell out funds for a cobalt mining firm, DesRosiers Automotive Consultants reports Canada’s third-quarter automotive shipments and Uber says, “so long!” to its self-driving unit.
Cash for cobalt
The Government of Ontario and Government of Canada have announced that First Cobalt Corp. will be the recipient of $10 million in public funding to allow the company to accelerate the expansion of its refinery in Northern Ontario, attract new investments and help mine cobalt for electric vehicles.
Once complete, the facility will be the first of its kind in North America, capable of producing 25,000 tonnes of battery-grade cobalt sulphate annually, which could represent five percent of the global market for refined cobalt
Key terms under the agreements with both governments are as follows:
- Government of Canada: $5 million interest-free loans, through the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario
- Government of Ontario: $5 million non-repayable grant, through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation
- This combined strategic investment, totalling $10 million, will enable First Cobalt to recommission and expand its cobalt refinery north of Toronto
First Cobalt’s refinery project has an estimated capital cost of $77 million, including Federal and Provincial contributions totalling $10 million. This support will help secure well-paying, long-term jobs in Northern Ontario.
The refinery adds another significant piece to the automotive supply chain in Canada, following recent announcements by both levels of government in support of battery electric vehicle production.
As global EV sales continue to set new records, First Cobalt will play a critical role in the growing North American supply chain, the company said in an online statement.
Parts power
DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC) have unveiled a report detailing Canada’s automotive shipments in the third quarter of 2020, confirming what we’ve all suspected—shipments have been down across the board in the face of Canada’s second wave of COVID-19.
Interestingly, the auto parts sector—with a Q3 YTD decline of 21.7 percent—has relatively outperformed the auto parts sector and its YTD Q3 declines of 33.5 percent.
The relative strength of the parts industry can be seen in the fact that for the month of September the sector was actually up 8.4 percent over the equivalent month in 2019.
“Even with the unparallel downturn of 2020 the auto sector still produced close to $60 billion in shipments in the first 9 months of 2020” commented Andrew King Managing Partner at DAC.
So long, self-driving Ubers
Uber has sold its self-driving unit Advanced Technologies Group to startup competitor Aurora.
Aurora did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, which is set to close in the first quarter of 2021, but a spokesperson for the company said the acquisition and Uber’s new investment in the combined operation brings Aurora’s value to $10 billion.
The acquisition, officially announced Monday, is meant to accelerate the development of Aurora’s driverless application focused on heavy-duty trucks and later on light-vehicle products such as self-driving cars.
Though Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group will now fall under Aurora’s umbrella, the San Francisco-based ride-hailing giant will still be a part of the autonomous vehicle field: Uber is investing $400 million in Aurora and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will serve on Aurora’s board.
Aurora, which set up headquarters in Pittsburgh, Penn., in 2017 and now also has offices in San Francisco; Palo Alto, Calif.; and Bozeman, Mont., has more than 150 employees locally.
