Feb 3 2016
Nemaska Lithium Inc. confirms the signing of the final contract for the $12.87 M non-repayable grant for construction and operation of its Phase 1 Lithium hydromet plant. Concurrently with the signing of the agreement with Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), the Corporation has received the first installment of $2.1M.
The Phase 1 plant is designed to produce 500 tonnes per year of high purity lithium hydroxide. The Corporation is pleased to announce that the detailed engineering has commenced and that the construction of the Phase 1 plant is expected to start during Q1-2016 and be completed during Q4-2016. Once built, Nemaska Lithium intends to use this facility to produce commercial lithium hydroxide samples to send to end users in the lithium battery market with a goal of securing off-take agreements in advance of start of operation at the Whabouchi lithium mine and commercial hydromet facility. Nemaska Lithium is in discussions with a number of potential end users, all of which have requested samples as soon as possible.
"The demand for lithium hydroxide is growing at double digit rates annually and end users are keen to secure supply," commented Guy Bourassa President and CEO of Nemaska Lithium. "Our unique method of producing lithium hydroxide uses electrolysis technology whose main input is electricity which, in Quebec, is green renewable hydro-electricity. This makes our lithium hydroxide process one of the greenest and lowest cost in the world. This is a value proposition which is unmatched in the industry and perfectly aligns us with the values of battery manufacturers, electric vehicle and energy storage consumers globally. The SDTC has a vision for clean technology-based businesses in Canada and we are proud to be a recipient of SDTC funding."
The SDTC agreement is comprised of three milestones and provides for two payments during the first milestone, where each payment represents 45% of the SDTC milestone contribution. Each payment to be received at the beginning of the two subsequent milestones will represent 90% of the total SDTC milestone contribution. Nemaska Lithium will produce a report at the end of each milestone after which it will receive the next installment for the following milestone. The remaining 10% of each milestone will be paid after filing the final report.
Source: http://www.nemaskalithium.com/