Ford Signs Lithium Supply Agreement with Canada's Nemaska

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) (Dearborn, Michigan) recently signed a purchase agreement with lithium producer Nemaska Lithium Incorporated (Montreal, Quebec) to secure a supply of the battery metal for Ford's manufacture of electric vehicles (EVs). Industrial Info is tracking $1 billion of active Nemaska projects in Canada.

The deal between Ford and Nemaska calls for the delivery of up to 13,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year from Nemaska's Bécancour site for an 11-year period. The agreement also provides that prior to lithium hydroxide delivery from Bécancour, Nemaska will supply Ford with spodumene concentrate from its Wahbouchi mine being developed in Québec.

Construction on the Whabouchi mine and concentrator project near Nemiscau, Québec, is planned to kick off this summer. The mine initially will be developed as a 2,830-ton-per-da-per-day open pit open operation with a magnetic separation concentrator to extract 205,000 tons per year of spodumene concentrate over the first 24 years of mine life. The spodumene concentrate will be transported to a lithium hydroxide conversion plant in Bécancour to produce 34,000 tons per year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide, from which Ford will obtain its supply.

The Whabouchi mine and concentrator are expected to be completed in late 2024, when it will supply Ford with spodumene concentrate prior to the completion of the Bécancour conversion plant, which is expected in late 2025. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) can click here for the project reports on the mine and concentrator and click here for the report on the conversion plant.

Nemaska's plans for its operations extend well into the future. After the initial 24 years of operating the Whabouchi mine as an above-ground operation, Nemaska will shift the mine to underground operations to maintain the extraction of 205,000 tons per year of spodumene concentrate from 1.1 million tons per year of milled ore feed for the final nine years of the mine's operational life. The produced spodumene concentrate will continue to be shipped to the Bécancour conversion plant. Subscribers can click here for the full report.

Ford's signing the contract with Nemaska is indicative of how EV-makers are racing to secure supplies of lithium needed for EV batteries. Canada may provide a good place from which U.S. automakers can secure lithium as Industrial Info is tracking more than $13 billion in active lithium-mining projects in the country. Among these projects is Avalon Advanced Materials Incorporated's plans for an above-ground lithium pegmatite mine and mill near Minaki, Ontario. A 950,000-ton-per-year open-pit mining operation will be coupled with a flotation processing plant to extract 71,500 tons per year of petalite concentrate and 11,800 tons per year of lepidolite concentrate over a 20-year mine life.

The mine's initial production will cater to the glass and ceramics industries before Avalon completes a lithium-hydroxide refinery in Thunder Bay, Ontario, to produce up to 20,000 tons per year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide for use in the EV and energy-storage sectors. The initial mine and mill are expected to be completed in 2025, followed by the lithium-hydroxide refinery in 2027. Subscribers can click here for the report on the mine and mill, and click here for the report on the refinery.

Rock Tech Lithium Incorporated (Vancouver, British Columbia) is planning a mine near Beardmore, Ontario, that will follow a similar track to Nemaska's Whabouchi operation, shifting from above-ground to underground operations. The Georgia Lake lithium mine and mill initially will start as a 1 million-ton-per-year open-pit mine with a 2,800-ton-per-day flotation processing plant to produce 100,000 tons per year of high-grade spodumene concentrate over the first four years of the mine's expected nine-year life. For the final five years of mine life, the mine will shift to underground operations, maintaining its 1 million-ton-per-day output to supply the processing plant. The spodumene concentrate from both the above-ground and underground operations will be shipped about 160 kilometers to a lithium hydroxide conversion plant. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project reports on the above-ground segment, the underground segment and the conversion plant.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Database can click here to see reports for all of the projects discussed in this article and click here to see the related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).