Two large shareholders in Canada's Ecobalt Solutions Inc are calling for a change in senior management or the launch of a sales process, saying ongoing mine development delays are wasting a windfall from high battery sector demand.
Locking in supplies of key battery raw materials lithium and cobalt has been a headache for electric car manufacturers, but these days it’s the supply of nickel and graphite that’s keeping them up at night.
The expansion, on top of a $238 million upgrade due for completion in April, will double the mine’s production to 1.95 million tonnes a year of lithium concentrate a year from 2020.
Companies can now perform non-systematic drilling during the early exploration phase of their mining concessions and without requiring an environmental license.
Study released Tuesday by the Fraser Institute, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec are the three main provinces where exploration permit processes have grown longer and less transparent over the past 10 years.
