Automotive News Canada - January 2023 - 13

* JANUARY 2023
13
Is lithium Alberta's
new energy pipeline?
Calgary mineral
company will use
brine instead of a
mine to feed EVs
By GRACE MACALUSO
MANAGING EDITOR
CHRIS DOORNBOS IS ON
the ground floor of a new
industry that could integrate
oil-and-gas-dominated Alberta
into Canada's electric-vehicle
supply chain.
In November, Doornbos'
Calgary-based company, E3
Lithium Ltd., received $27 million
from the federal
government to
support an $87-million
project aimed
at producing battery-quality
lithium
hydroxide.
E3 Lithium,
SCAN
TO LISTEN
which owns properties
in south central
Alberta, is
developing technology
to extract
lithium from defunct oil and gas
reservoirs, said Doornbos, the
company's CEO. E3 Lithium's
proprietary technology is
designed to extract the critical
mineral from the lithium-rich
brine, with the potential for
commercial development of battery-grade
products, he said.
The company is " aiming for
2026 ... to produce a battery-quality
lithium hydroxide from the
Leduc aquifer lithium resource
that we have under foot here in
Alberta, " Doornbos said on the
Dec. 16 Automotive News Canada
Podcast.
Alberta, he said, has an estimated
48 million tonnes of lithium
resources, " So it's a big, big
opportunity for us. "
E3 has drill-tested wells at
the Leduc oil field region and
aims to have a field pilot project
running this year. The company
ultimately hopes to launch
the commercial project, which
includes developing an engineering
plan, drilling wells to pump
the fluid from the aquifer and
transporting it to a facility to
extract the lithium.
Doornbos discussed a range
of issues facing Canada's fledgling
EV supply chain. The audio
transcript has been edited for
clarity.
CAN CANADA BECOME A KEY GLOBAL
PLAYER IN LITHIUM PRODUCTION?
If E3 is successful, if our peers
are successful, and we get lithium
production up and running
- we're aiming for
2026, and we're well
on our path to that.
We plan to start
at 20,000 tonnes
for our first plant,
but we believe that based on the
brine resource; we can scale to
[200,000] to 300,000 tonnes a year;
and we can operate that for 50
years. And that's just us. Alberta
will be a major jurisdiction for
lithium products feeding this
battery ecosystem. And lithium
is in every battery chemistry
being manufactured today.
Doornbos: Alberta's potential as
a significant lithium supplier is
a " big, big opportunity for us. "
FILE PHOTO
ARE BATTERY MANUFACTURERS AND
PROCESSORS CLAMOURING TO GET
THEIR HANDS ON LITHIUM FROM
ALBERTA?
Everybody is looking for lithium,
and everyone's going for [it]
further down the [supply chain]
to secure it. And we could be out
there signing nonbinding [memorandums
of understanding] today.
But that's not our goal. Our goal is
to find meaningful relationships
with real customers that are going
to commit to E3 as a partner to get
our product out the door. And
those take a bit longer. And there's
a sweet spot in terms of how close
we are to production when those
get signed. But, of course, we're
engaging across the industry.
DO YOU SEE AN ALL-CANADIAN
EV SUPPLY CHAIN DEVELOPING?
I hope we see a Canadian supply
chain. The reality is that some
of this will end up in the United
States and some of this will end up
in Europe over time. But it makes a
lot of sense efficiencywise to make
cathode-active material close to
your lithium source. And we're
advocating hard to bring that manufacturing
to Alberta. Building
Canadian products all through the
vertical, from the raw materials
through to the vehicle, is a very
important goal for Canada.
HOW DOES CANADA COMPARE WITH
CHINA FOR CRITICAL MINERALS?
IS THIS A GAME CANADA CAN WIN?
I don't see this as a win or lose
against China. China has the
majority of the production, the
majority of the processing and
the majority of the manufacturing.
So we can look to how they've
adopted [shorter-range, less-expensive]
vehicles and the technologies
they've deployed. I think we need
to see shorter-range, smaller vehicles
that are affordable to the general
[public].
ARE ALBERTANS WARMING UP
TO ELECTRIC VEHICLES?
I think Alberta is fully aware
of the electric-vehicle revolution
that's happening. The government
is introducing carbon [reclamation
storage] hubs, and the whole point
of these hubs [is] to decarbonize
Alberta's industry and our electricity
grid. That's happening here
regardless of the electric-vehicle
industry, so, it's top-of-mind in the
province. There are tons of electric
vehicles in Calgary. I have a Tesla,
and I couldn't park today in electric-vehicle
charging locations
because they're full of EVs. - ANC
- With files from Greg Layson
Quebec mine clears the final hurdle
With permits in place, it's
poised to be first in Canada
to supply lithium for batteries
By DAVID KENNEDY
T ORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
A QUEBEC LITHIUM MINE POISED TO
become the only Canadian site actively producing
the key battery metal has received the final government
permit required to start operations and
begin shipments to customers such as Tesla,
according to developer Sayona Mining Ltd.
The regulatory nod from Fisheries and Oceans
Canada clears the way for the open-pit mine near
Val-d'Or in northwestern Quebec to begin producing
lithium-rich spodumene concentrate in the
first half of 2023, Australia-based Sayona said Dec.
13.
" With this major advance, Sayona will become
the only producer of lithium
concentrate in Quebec and in
Canada, " Annie Blier, vice-president
of environment at Sayona
Québec, said in a release. " This is
a very promising position for our
region, which puts us at the forefront
of the emerging energy transition. "
Blier:
The
pending
startup of
a Quebec
lithium
mine puts
the region
in " a very
promising
position. "
SUPPLIED
PHOTO
MINE IS BACK FROM THE BRINK
Sayona said its North
American Lithium project has
received more than 130 permits
from provincial and federal regulators
as the company steers the
site back toward production. The
mine began operations in 2018,
before flagging lithium prices
halted operations and pushed the
original owner into creditor protection
the next year.
In 2021, Sayona and U.S.-based Piedmont
Lithium Inc. purchased the project and bundled it
into a joint venture called Sayona Quebec. Sayona
controls 75 per cent of the venture and Piedmont
the rest.
With lithium demand from the electric-vehicle
battery market booming, Sayona and Piedmont
agreed in June to spend $98 million to restart
and upgrade the mine, adding
to roughly $400 million spent on
development by the previous
owners.
Phillips:
In addition
to being
a partner
with Sayona
Mining in
Quebec,
Piedmont
Lithium will
buy about
two-thirds of
the mine's
output.
SUPPLIED
PHOTO
Much of the work is complete.
More than 100 staff and contractors
are on-site, and much of
the critical equipment has been
installed at the brownfield mine,
said Piedmont President Keith
Phillips. The improvements
will help the project run more
smoothly than it did under the
previous operator, Phillips told
Automotive News Canada.
" We could have turned it on
when we bought it a year ago,
but it made sense to make real
improvement, " he said. " It'll run
more efficiently and have higher
recoveries and be a more reliable
operation. "
Along with holding a stake in
the Quebec lithium project,
Piedmont is set to become the
mine's largest customer. An agreement with
Sayona will allow Piedmont to purchase at least
113,000 tonnes per year of spodumene concentrate
from the mine, or about 65 per cent of its production,
Phillips said.
Piedmont has been lining up its own customers
for the stream of concentrate, and announced a
supply agreement with Tesla on Jan. 3. The deal
will see Piedmont supply 125,000 tonnes of spodumene
concentrate from the mine between the second
half of 2023 and end of 2025.
Phillips expects buyers for Sayona Quebec's
share of production will be arranged in the coming
months.
SEE NORTH AMERICA'S PAGE 24
22_003853_Automotive_News_CN_JAN_CN Mod: November 18, 2022 10:16 AM
Print: 11/22/22 9:55:56 AM page 1 v7
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