Germany Chancellor plans lithium deal with Serbia after Rio ruling
Olaf Scholz plans to visit Serbia this week to secure supplies of lithium that are critical for the nation’s energy transition and auto industry.
Canadian junior Frontier Lithium (TSX-V: FL) (OTCQX: LITOF) has successfully produced battery-quality lithium hydroxide monohydrate from the PAK deposit, part of the PAK lithium project in northwestern Ontario.
The lithium salts were produced using a third-party’s process technology from a purified lithium hydroxide solution in the company’s mini-pilot plant, it said.
“We continue to progress, de-risk and execute on our plan to build a fully-integrated lithium chemicals company to service the global battery and electric vehicle industry,” CEO Trevor Walker said in the statement.
Frontier has two spodumene-bearing deposits at its PAK project, 175 kilometres north of Red Lake, near the Manitoba border.
Spodumene is a source of lithium, and the company aims to become a fully integrated producer of battery-quality lithium, a critical component in the batteries that power electric vehicles and high-tech devices.
The pilot, conducted in partnership with mining and commodities giant Glencore (LON: GLEN), received C$363,000 (about $300K) from the government of Ontario in May.
The test work will support an ongoing prefeasibility study to assess the viability of a vertically integrated chemical company through operation of a spodumene mine and concentrator at PAK.
It could end in a commercial-scale lithium chemical plant that would create 500 jobs during a two-year construction phase, and more than 250 once it is operational.
The company released in February a preliminary economic assessment of its PAK open-pit project, forecasting a 26-year mine life with the potential to establish a hydrometallurgical chemical plant at an unidentified Great Lakes port.
Frontier’s tentative start date to begin commercial-scale mining at PAK is 2025.
