General Discussion Topics, page-38652

Not sure if been posted before.

Sayona has the ambition to control the entireproduction chain in Quebec. Its La Corne plant would process ore from its twoother mines, in La Motte (Abitibi) and Winneway (Témiscamingue).

The opening of the sites will be spread over severalyears. The lithiummarket will gradually increase, predicts Michel Jébrak, they will be able toadapt to demand.

Sayona would also like to build a plant in Quebec to ensure thesecond processing of spodumene. The project is currently being evaluated.Several options are on the table for the site: Bécancour,Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Val-d'Or or La Corne.

Although optimism is in order, Sayona will have toovercome several obstacles: being competitive on the international market,obtaining operating permits by meeting all environmental requirements andsometimes dealing with public opposition, as in the case of the Authier mine project in La Motte and Winneway.

The road is still long for the mining company, which is countingon the emergence of an industrial cluster around lithium in Quebec, which couldmake its task easier.

« I have no difficulty in believing that the problems encountered to dateare minor problems. We do not go to the Moon; it is an old-fashioned,well-known technology. I think the industrial cluster will come because we havea lot of lithium in Quebec. »

TheGovernment of Quebec, ambitious but cautious

This industrial cluster would includethe extraction and processing of spodumene, but also the manufacture ofelectric batteries and even the recycling of lithium-ion batteries. TheMontreal company Recyclage Lithion has just announced the construction of aplant for this purpose.

Last October, Premier FrançoisLegault again indicated his intention to create a battery sector in Quebec for all ranges ofelectric vehicles.

The colossal investment could reachtwo or three billion dollars of public money. Faced with the anticipated amountof the bill, the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, alsoexpressed some reservations last fall about the realization of the project as a whole.

The Quebec government is already encouraging lithiummining through several programs. Lithium is part of its transportationelectrification strategy as an essential component of batteries for electricvehicles, along with nickel or graphite.

In 2020, Québec has planned to spend $90 million over five yearsto stimulate the development of critical and strategic minerals.

Currently, the most advanced project is nemaska Lithium, whichoperates one of the largest deposits in the world at the Whabouchi mine east ofJames Bay.

The company plans to manufacture lithium hydroxideitself. For this, it will build a factory in the industrialpark of Bécancour. This project, estimated at one billion dollars, is to receive a contribution of $300 million from Investissement Québec.

This experience should serve as a beacon for other companies inthe sector.

VincentResseguier

The lithium race is intensifying in Quebec, but the challenges are many | Radio-Canada.ca