Quebec and its partner Livent are each investing $80 million in the share capital of Nemaska Lithium in order to set the stage before a major financing round scheduled for early next year.
The money will be used to continue the studies and preparatory work needed to resume construction of a mine in Nord-du-Québec and to launch the construction of a processing plant for lithium spodumene ore, which will in the composition of the batteries, in Bécancour, in the Centre-du-Québec region.
The investment sets the stage for a next round of financing scheduled for early 2023. This step will allow the resumption of construction work for commissioning in 2025.
Nemaska Lithium found itself insolvent as projected project costs soared. Initially estimated at $875 million, the project’s estimated cost rose to $1.2 billion in 2019. The estimate released as part of Thursday’s announcement puts the project’s value at $1.5 billion.
Investissement Québec had lost $71 million in the adventure while the company had taken shelter from its creditors. Investissement Québec now owns half of the company in equal shares with its new partner Livent, which supplies transformed lithium to Tesla and BMW.
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