Undersea mining is still illegal under international law and environmentalists rail against it for threatening ocean ecosystems with habitat damage, silt and noise.
The commodities giant will sign an offtake agreement in exchange for helping to fund the lithium processing plant that Eramet is building with China’s Tsingshan.
A deal with Northvolt would underscore Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ambitions for Canada to capture a sizable piece of the North American EV supply chain.