Munsee

Jan. 14—NANTICOKE — Greater Nanticoke Area joined a rapidly growing list of local school districts voting to keep any property tax increase for the 2022-23 school year within an annual state-set maximum known as the Act 1 Index. For Greater Nanticoke Area, this year the maximum is 5.2%

The index can vary year to year and district by district, but voting to stay within the limit does not mean there will be a tax increase. The vote gives the district until the end of May to make that decision and approve a preliminary budget, with approval of a final budget required by June 30.

A district can only exceed the limit either by getting state approval for exceptions or voter approval through a spring primary referendum. Pursuing those options requires approving a preliminary budget in early February.

The board also approved making Feb. 21, Presidents Day, a make-up day requiring school attendance, compensating for the closure of schools Sept. 20, 2021 due to having no water throughout the district. Board President Tony Prushinski cast the only no vote, saying that with the surge of COVID-19 sweeping Luzerne County, he would prefer the day be made up in June.

Students to return Jan. 18

Superintendent Ron Grevera re-affirmed plans to return students to classrooms on Jan. 18. The district went virtual Monday due to COVID-19 and staffing concerns.

In other business, the board:

—Approved the formation of a swim club in compliance with Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association rules.

—Accepted the resignation of David DeLuca as head softball coach, and agreed to advertise for applicants.

—Voted to have Kleinfelder proceed with geotechnical and infiltration testing at the existing running track and football field at a cost of $7,950.

—Approved participating with the WVIA Enhanced Scholar program at a cost of $2,375.

—Approved an agreement with the Luzerne Intermediate Unit to provide a Community…

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Canadian steelmaker Stelco Holdings Inc. is drawing up plans to build a recycling plant for electric vehicles and EV batteries at its Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ont.

The company said Dec. 31 it had signed an agreement with German-Australian firm Primobius to license a two-step recycling process used to shred spent lithium-ion batteries and recover valuable metals for reuse.

Stelco CEO Alan Kestenbaum said the “closed loop system” will expand the Hamilton-based firm’s footprint in automotive, adding new streams of battery materials. The proposed plant will also generate tens of thousands of tons of scrap steel the company can reuse in its steelmaking operations.

“Stelco will be able to recycle end-of-life electric vehicles, convert them into green steel and recover from their batteries high purity metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese,” Kestenbaum said in a release.

Primobius, a joint venture made up of German industrial firm SMS Group and Australian speciality metals company Neometals Ltd., commissioned an initial demonstration recycling facility in Europe in December.

The company’s process breaks batteries down into their constituent plastic and metal parts during its first stage. An integrated hydrometallurgical refinery processes the black mass — made up of the valuable lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese — in phase two, readying it for reuse in new batteries.

Terms of the licensing deal were not disclosed, but Stelco said it will operate under a royalty system unless Primobius exercises its option to acquire between 25 and 50 per cent of the steelmaker’s new EV battery recycling business.

With the agreement in place, the Ontario-based firm plans to begin detailed engineering and permitting for the proposed plant, as well as advance talks with suppliers of end-of-life batteries for feedstock. It did not share projected costs.

Stelco is targeting 2023 for starting up initial operations…

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