Australia's Jervois Mining <JRV.AX> said on Tuesday it would buy a nickel and cobalt refinery from a unit of Votorantim SA, one of Brazil's biggest diversified holding companies, as demand for metals used in batteries for electric vehicles grows.
The battery metals focused miner will buy the São Miguel Paulista refinery in Sao Paulo from Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio for 125 million reais ($22.1 million), it said in a statement.
A push for stricter emission controls is driving demand for electric vehicles and metals used to make lithium-ion batteries that power them. Electric carmaker Tesla Inc <TSLA.O> last week called for an increased production of its in-house batteries.
The Brazilian refinery had a production capacity of 25,000 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) of nickel and 2,000 mtpa of cobalt before it was placed on care and maintenance in 2016.
Jervois said it would refine cobalt concentrate from its Idaho facility and was targeting first concentrate deliveries from the United States in mid-2022.
The company's shares jumped as much as 13.3% to A$0.34 following the announcement.
(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
