“Back in May 2023,GM Authorityreported that the joint venture between General Motors and POSCO Future M was granted aloanfrom the Canadian government to help facilitate the construction of a new Cathode Active Materials (CAM) processing plant in Bécancour, Québec. Now, it appears as though rival Ford is set to follow in The General’s footsteps.
SK On, EcoProBM and Ford recently announced a joint investment of $1.2 billion CAD, or roughly $890 USD, to build a cathode manufacturing facility for materials that will be used in future Blue Oval products.”
https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/08/ford-mimics-gm-with-890m-cam-plant-investment-in-quebec/
https://cleantechnica.com/2023/06/30/northvolt-close-to-choosing-site-near-montreal-for-5-3-billion-green-battery-factory/There is a lot going on in Quebec, that is for sure.
Names like Ford, GM, POSCO,SK On, Albemarle, Nemaska, etc have all been given a guernsey but no mention of Sayona.
It seems a bit odd, right?
After all, Sayona along with their joint partner Piedmont, is the only company that is actually producing the key battery material around which this whole industry will rely on most..
It would be a bit disheartening to have come this far and be given the cold shoulder if this is the end of the story but it is not.
According to a tweet today from a government minister, the best is yet to come.
The Northvolt project is expected to cost a whopping $5.3 billion. As yet, we have no idea where they will source their material from.
We can probably rule out the Nemaska/Investissement Quebec joint venture as they have already been snapped up by Ford.
SYQ is probably out of the picture too, as PLL has committed half of the product from NAL to Tesla and LG.
There is that half of NAL’s output that remains uncommitted but that won’t go anywhere near fulfilling the requirements of Northvolt’s giant project.
Now who else is left?
There are would be lithium producers in Quebec but how soon can they be brought on line.
I would suggest most of them will take three, four or more years to get there if they are lucky.
Northvolt will be needing a huge amount of lithium and just maybe, the Sayona/SOQUEM joint venture will be the one that fits the bill..
It certainly has the real estate to build a giant mining hub of the size that will be needed to supply Northvolt and they are more ready to do it than any other lithium company in Quebec.
They have a solid partner in SOQUEM with expertise and experience.
Sayona has demonstrated what they are capable of at NAL.
Some big announcements out of Moblan could ice the deal.
We live in hope.
PS LG ES should not be forgotten.
(20min delay)