Talon Metals to Implement Circulor’s Traceability Solution for Nickel and Copper Production
Talon Metals announced plans to deploy Circulor's traceability technology to ensure full transparency of its nickel and copper production processes. This initiative aims to trace the company's nickel and copper concentrates, along with by-products such as iron compounds for LFP batteries, cobalt, platinum group metals, and gold.
Circulor’s technology provides comprehensive tracking capabilities, verifying the provenance, production standards, and embedded CO2 intensity of the minerals. This system addresses growing concerns over reputational risks faced by battery manufacturers and EV makers, particularly regarding environmental impacts and human rights violations in nickel production by Chinese companies in Indonesia.
Henri van Rooyen, CEO of Talon, emphasized the importance of adhering to high standards: "Deploying Circulor's technology fulfils Talon's commitment to produce nickel and other critical minerals at the highest possible standards for labor rights, environmental protection, and indigenous participation in clean energy projects. Using Circulor's technology will ensure that our customers and, in turn, their customers have a verifiable record that the nickel in their battery was produced at high standards in the United States."
The Talon-Circulor partnership aligns with U.S. goals to secure a domestic supply chain for critical minerals like nickel. This collaboration also positions Talon's production to meet stringent requirements set forth by the European Union's Battery Regulation, Ecodesign for Sustainable Production Regulation, and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
Todd Malan, Talon's Chief External Affairs Officer and Head of Climate Strategy, highlighted the long-term benefits of traceability: "The critical minerals we can responsibly extract from the ground in Minnesota and process in North Dakota are infinitely recyclable. Mining these elements today in a responsible manner contributes to future generations' ability to rely on recycling. There are not enough critical minerals in use today to achieve the scale of our ambitions in the clean energy transition. Tracing minerals produced today will ensure that their provenance, production standards, and CO2 intensity can be tracked all the way to the recycling stage and then accounted for in many future uses."
