FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION — Fort William First Nation has signed a Letter of Intent with a Canadian mining company to collaborate on the development of a lithium battery materials refinery on FWFN's territory.
The announcement was made Wednesday by Avalon Advanced Materials Inc.
The refinery would be situated on the First Nation's industrial lands, and would accept lithium mineral concentrates from Avalon's Separation Rapids lithium project 70 kilometres north of Kenora.
It would also use concentrates from Rock Tech's Georgia Lake lithium project 145 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, as well potentially other emerging mining operations in Northern Ontario.
In a statement, Avalon said the refinery would produce lithium hydroxide and other lithium battery materials.
It said the two parties have determined their next steps as follows:
- identification of a specific location for the refinery on the waterfront
- conduct the necessary engineering, site preparation and construction design studies to prepare for the start of construction in 2022
- finalize the initial design capacity once firm commitments have been secured for product purchase by battery manufacturers.
- secure the necessary capital
Avalon CEO Don Bubar said "We are delighted to have the opportunity to create a new precedent for collaboration with Indigenous business...I share FWFN Chief Peter Collins' vision for how this operation can inspire other Indigenous businesses to become future suppliers of lithium mineral concentrates for the refinery."
Bubar added that he agrees with Collins that FWFN could become "the hub of the North for all First Nations communities in Northwestern Ontario."
For his part, Chief Collins cautioned during an interview that "This is a non-binding agreement. That's something we want to make clear."
Collins said there's a lot of work to do in the community, including ensuring that any environmental concerns associated with the refinery can be addressed.
"Somewhere down the road, our council still has to buy in," he said.
Collins suggested that if the project does come to fruition, there's the potential for opening a battery-manufacturing plant that FWFN would own.
"We got into this thing to start dialogue. We still have lots of heavy lifting to do...Right now we're excited about it."
Collins added that if the project ends up being located in the City of Thunder Bay, it will still be a positive development for his community and the entire region.
Last year, Avalon and Rock Tech announced a collaboration and said they were eyeing the Thunder Bay area as a potential location for a processing plant.
At the time, John Mason of the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development commission said it could create about 100 jobs, and that it held the potential for spinoff manufacturing jobs as well.
NOTE: This story has been updated to include additional comments from Chief Peter Collins
