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Sayona specifies its development projects in Abitibi-Témiscamingue

A view of the La Corne plant facilities.(archives)

PHOTO: COURTESY OF SAYONA QUEBEC

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Martin Guindon (go to the author's page)

Martin Guindon

January 13, 2022

Sayona clarified on Tuesday its plan for its various mining projects oriented towards the production of lithium, most of which are located in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

Before the members of the Canadian Institute of Mining - Amos section, CEO Guy Laliberté first recalled Sayona's desire to be a key player in the plan for a green economy in Quebec.

The company has been particularly active in this regard in 2021, investing $200 million in the acquisition of Lithium America North (LAN) in La Corne and the Moblan project in Nord-du-Québec.

Read also :

• Long Point First Nation concerned about potential impacts of Tansim mining project
• Sayona Quebec completes the acquisition of North American Lithium
• Lithium processing at La Corne: Sayona will compensate La Motte

For Abitibi-Témiscamingue, development will revolve around the La Corne mining complex.The company is working to relaunch the mine with the objective of producing a 6% spodumene concentrate there at the beginning of 2023 and thus creating 220 jobs.

Sayona's flagship project is Lithium North America.At the moment, we are preparing the relaunch of the site, the restart of the concentrator.An investment plan between 50 and 70 million dollars is being put in place.It is important to do it properly, argued Yves Desrosiers, Technical and Projects Director at Sayona, adding that spinoffs of approximately $20 million are expected in the region with this project.

All the ore in the region

The investment aims to improve the performance of the concentrator and the spodumene content of the concentrate that will be produced there, in order to better meet market needs.

The La Corne concentrator will also process the ore extracted at the Authier mine, in La Motte, if the latter obtains all the authorizations to start up.It will also receive production from Tansim, in Témiscamingue, which is still at the exploration stage.

The company is also still seeking community support for this project.

Yves Desrosiers specified that the company was working to have the approximately 160 environmental permits for the La Corne mine validated again.

Most were obtained in 2012-2013.The regulations changed in 2016 as well as in 2020. Sayona wants to ensure that it operates with a factory or with a site in the most recent and most difficult to achieve environmental standards.At present, more than half of the permits have already been received by Sayona and approved by the various ministries, he said.

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By acquiring LAN, Sayona has also committed to carrying out secondary processing in Quebec by 2025 at the latest. It must decide in the coming months whether it will produce lithium carbonate or hydroxide.It favors the La Corne site, where there are already 40% of the facilities of a lithium carbonate plant.

Authier: an extra mine

Sayona also confirms that the Authier project is becoming an extra mine.

Only the extraction of ore will be done there, which should greatly limit the impact of the mine on the environment.There is no longer any question of installing a concentrator there, which in the same breath eliminates the need for a mining tailings site.There will be a pit, a waste rock pile and two buildings.It is committed to using a fleet of green trucks to transport the ore, as soon as technology permits.

The company is currently responding to questions from the Ministry of the Environment and is amending its environmental impact study to take into account the new reality.

Sayona anticipates public hearings before the BAPE by the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023.