A mining project related to the lithium battery sector is progressing in Saguenay–Lac-St-Jean. First Phosphate, which has begun exploring 1,500 square kilometers of mining claims about 125 kilometers north of the city of Saguenay, announced Wednesday that it is getting support from the port authority.
The company’s goal is to produce phosphate that can be used in lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. This type of battery is used in particular in electric vehicles, such as those of the manufacturer Tesla.
“The market for lithium-iron-phosphate batteries is expected to expand. The governments of Quebec and Canada are encouraging battery manufacturers and mining companies to work together to take market share away from China, which has produced batteries in ways that are not environmentally friendly,” explains the company’s president. and former federal Minister of the Environment under Stephen Harper, Peter Kent, in an interview at To have to.
The First Phosphate project is still embryonic: the mineralogical and geochemical studies of the land acquired by the company in recent months have yet to be completed. The mine, however, says it has received promising initial analytical results, and Mr. Kent hopes that production will be able to start within five years. First Phosphate then wishes to integrate into the North American market and ship its concentrate internationally.
With the recently signed memorandum of understanding, the Port of Saguenay thus signals its intention to give it access to its deep waters, as well as land to build processing facilities in the industrial zone which is being developed. . “We believe that Saguenay is the next pole of development for the battery subsidiary”, judge the CEO of the port authority, Carl Laberge. “There haven’t been many announcements yet, but there is a lot of interest, discussions with several companies. »
To attract businesses, Mr. Laberge is relying in particular on Premier François Legault’s promise to invest $117 million to provide infrastructure for the vast virgin land belonging to the Port of Saguenay.
The arrival of new industrial activities is likely to increase maritime traffic in the Saguenay Fjord, and the CEO of the port authority says he is aware that this situation can be problematic for the local ecosystem, and in particular for marine mammals that frequent it. However, he emphasizes that the Port of Saguenay takes the search for measures to reduce this impact seriously.
Untapped potential in Quebec
For now, there is no phosphate mine in Quebec. Another project, Arianne Phosphate, has also been underway in Saguenay for several years. However, it does not specifically target the energy transition; the use of the ore in agriculture, in particular in fertilizers, is especially put forward there.
So far, phosphate has not been counted among the minerals designated as critical and strategic by the Quebec government. But it should be given its importance in both agriculture and energy, according to Karim Zaghib, a lithium-ion battery expert and former director of the Center of Excellence in Transport Electrification and Energy Storage. of Hydro-Quebec.
Mr. Zaghib also believes that the market will adopt lithium ion batteries whose cathodes are made of iron and phosphate as much as those that use cobalt and nickel. “It’s excellent news that we want to develop phosphate,” said this professor at McGill and Concordia universities.
Even if they have disadvantages in terms of voltage potential, iron and phosphate have the advantage, in Quebec, of being able to be extracted in a more affordable and healthier way for the environment, states moreover UQAM Steen chemistry professor Brian Schougaard. They are also easier to obtain. “It makes sense for so-called green technology to use the healthiest and greenest materials possible,” he says.
For his part, Benoit Boulet, professor of electrical engineering at McGill University, points out that since phosphate is expected to be more and more in demand, it will be necessary to increase not only its production, but also its recycling.