The Brazilian mining giant Vale is added to the list of players interested in the Quebec battery industry and it has even obtained a rare confidentiality order from the Lobbyists Commissioner while he is in discussions with the Legault government.
If Quebec’s subsoil is full of minerals such as nickel, lithium, graphite and cobalt – prized by manufacturers of electronic devices and batteries – the conversion stage worries Quebec, which wants to attract investment.
This is where multinationals like Vale, with a market value of around US $ 63 billion, can play a role. The company has just registered with the Registry of Lobbyists, mainly to apply for grants or loans.
Its ambitions are not specified, but the mining company, already well established elsewhere in the country where it performs extraction and processing, gave an overview in an email sent to Press.
“Vale is evaluating options with the province of Quebec to develop part of the supply chain for electric vehicles,” said a spokesperson for the company.
What places in Quebec are the multinational interested in? What type of project is she considering? What is the extent of the public support requested? These questions remain unanswered due to the confidentiality order obtained from the Lobbyists Commissioner.
But the 1er Last November, the company praised the low carbon footprint of its extraction activities, particularly with regard to nickel, in order to position itself as a supplier in the niche of electric vehicles.
In Canada, Vale notably operates a concentrator at its Voisey’s Bay mine in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is also present in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Manitoba.
“We talk to a lot of all players in nickel, Vale is one”, recently confirmed the Minister of Economy and Innovation, Pierre Fitzgibbon, during an interview with Press. “The issue is not extraction. It is conversion. ”
PHOTO FROM THE VALE CANADA WEBSITE
Vale is already well established in Voisey’s Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, where it operates a large mine.
Michel Jébrak, professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at UQAM, expects to see large mining companies like Vale “gradually” entering the lithium battery niche.
“Today, the metals used for batteries […] are produced by specialty companies, he says. The big companies can be expected to wait for prices to stabilize before they hit the market and buy out producers and processors. ”
Vale made headlines last September when 39 of its miners were temporarily stranded underground near Sudbury. The team eventually came to the surface, and no one was hurt.
Very special permission
Extremely rare, the Brazilian giant obtained a confidentiality order from the commissioner within the framework of the representations made to several ministries and Investissement Quebec.
The measure is “exceptional”, confirmed Marie-Noëlle Saint-Pierre, responsible for media relations at the commissioner.
“It is granted only when the applicant demonstrates that any information contained in the declaration […] would likely risk seriously damaging the economic or financial interests of that client or business, ”she wrote in an email.
The commissioner is nevertheless aware of the information which is not disclosed.
In this case, Vale appears to have obtained the right to withhold the names of potential partners. Its spokesperson did not want to explain why the multinational had requested a confidentiality order. The last such order was granted in May 2020 to the real estate company Nouvelle France. There hadn’t been any for the past two years.
As part of its strategy, the Legault government plans to inject 1 to 2 billion over the next two or three years in order to accelerate the development of the battery sector, from the mine to the battery module.
This should be accompanied by private investments ranging between 4 and 6 billion, according to government projections.
On October 14, Mr. Fitzgibbon met representatives of Tesla during an economic mission to California. Other companies such as Britishvolt (London) and StromVolt (Ontario) each aim to build a factory in Quebec for lithium-ion cells – the basic element of the battery of electric vehicles.
With the collaboration of Nathaëlle Morissette and André Dubuc, Press
7000
Number of full-time Vale employees in Canada at its eight sites in four provinces