BASF threatens layoffs at stalled battery plant

BASF is considering laying off all workers at its battery material plant in Harjavalta, Finland, after a court suspended an environmental permit in February. BASF received the permit in 2020, but the document has been repeatedly challenged, and the plant hasn’t been able to start operating. BASF says the long, uncertain process led the company to consider layoffs. Once operational, the plant would be able to produce 30,000 metric tons of precursors for battery cathodes per year. Environmental groups claim the project doesn’t have a proper plan to dispose of sodium sulfate, a waste product. BASF has proposed building a facility to crystallize the waste but says that would take at least 18 months. The company says it will be able to purchase enough precursors for its cathode facility in Germany if it can’t source them from the Finnish plant. In February, CNGR Advanced Material, the world’s largest producer of cathode precursors, got an environmental permit for a facility in Hamina, Finland. And Umicore produces cathode precursors in Kokkola, Finland.