Quebec lithium pilot project gets $3.6M boost from feds

Montreal-based St-Georges Eco-Mining (CSE: SX; OTCQB: SXOOF) announced that its project spearheaded by its wholly owned subsidiary St-Georges Metallurgy – in partnership with LiOH Corp and COALIA – has received a $3,657,545 contribution from Natural Resources Canada’s critical minerals research, development and demonstration Program (CMRDD).

Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson made the recent announcement about the government contribution.

Minister Wilkinson commented, “This project, under the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy, will help expand Quebec’s sustainable critical minerals production, notably rare earths that are used in electronics, clean energy, aerospace, automotive and defence. Developments like this help mines get built faster, and they are a key element in seizing the generational opportunity before us. The Government of Canada is supporting projects that strengthen Canada’s supply chains, enhance our ability to be a reliable supplier of the critical minerals the world is demanding and foster economic growth while creating good jobs.”

COALIA is acting as the lead contractor for the pilot project focused on the extraction and purification of lithium from spodumene concentrate, in collaboration with LiOH and St-Georges Metallurgy. Coalia is a research and innovation centre specializing in mineral technology, plastics engineering, and advanced materials. LiOH is a privately held company established to develop the first industrial facility utilizing the licensed lithium processing technology pioneered by St-Georges Metallurgy.

The laboratory-validated process is designed to recover more than 90% of the lithium contained in the mineral feedstock using nitric acid as the leaching agent. As valuable by-products, the process also generates high-purity aluminum concentrate and nitrogen-based fertilizer. The research organization’s primary goal of this pilot project is to confirm the robustness of the process before scaling it up for industrial implementation.

The technology allows users to produce high-quality lithium nitrate or lithium hydroxide at competitive prices, with more efficient processes than current best practices, while generating virtually no waste material. The scientists expect this technology to build a strong and competitive transformation capacity for lithium hydroxide.

St-Georges Metallurgy intends to process spodumene sourced from Canadian producers and lithium black mass processed by EVSX. St-Georges also intends to confirm the potential to produce high quality LiFePO4 battery metals directly from the lithium nitrate with minimal processing stages. The company also plans a final phase in partnership with a Canadian phosphoric acid company.

The CMRDD program aims to advance the commercial readiness of emerging mineral processing unit operations or technologies that will support the development of zero-emission-vehicle value chains in Canada by providing raw material inputs for use in batteries and permanent magnets. The CMRDD program is supporting the development of innovative processing technologies for the critical minerals industry. Through federal research and development, as well as contributions funding, projects are advancing technological solutions at various stages of development.

More information is posted on www.StGeorgesEcoMining.com.