Westwin of the United States Plans to Invest US$502 Million to Build a Nickel Refinery

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 5, Westwin Elements announced that it will build a commercial-scale Class 1 nickel refinery at the Belwood Industrial Park in Natchez, Mississippi, USA, with a planned investment of US$502 million over the next five years. Phase I of the project is designed to produce 18,000 tons per year of high-purity Class 1 nickel, and is scheduled to be commissioned and put into operation in 2029. The company has completed a bankable feasibility study for the project and signed a long-term lease agreement for the project site.

The project will adopt the carbonyl nickel refining technology that Westwin has already validated at its demonstration plant in Lawton, Oklahoma. The Lawton facility has a designed capacity of 20 tons per year and has completed multiple rounds of Class 1 nickel powder production campaigns that meet product specifications. Westwin previously disclosed that this technology route uses the carbonyl process to produce high-purity nickel powder and Class 1 nickel products.

Westwin has secured long-term feedstock supply and product offtake arrangements for the Phase I project. In 2025, the company signed two seven-year purchase and sales agreements with Traxys, one covering 10,000 tons per year of Class 1 nickel briquettes and the other involving up to 17,000 tons per year of nickel metal content in mixed hydroxide precipitate; after the signing of these two agreements, the company said that approximately 80% of its planned commercial products had been locked in through binding offtake agreements.

On the feedstock side, Westwin signed a binding offtake agreement with Homeland Nickel on September 29, under which the latter plans to supply Westwin with approximately 20,000 tons per year of nickel concentrate from the Red Flat project in Oregon, USA. This agreement constitutes Westwin's first source of nickel feedstock directly from a domestic U.S. mine and supplements its existing long-term feedstock procurement arrangements.

The Belwood Industrial Park is adjacent to the Natchez inland river port and connected to the regional transportation network. The company plans to have 134 full-time positions during the Phase I commercial operation stage. The project has not yet started construction, and subsequent construction still depends on the completion of financing, engineering design, permit acquisition, and other preconditions. Westwin is working with the State of Mississippi and local partners to advance these preparatory efforts.