A major northwestern Ontario lithium developer has received formal approval to proceed with plans to build Europe's first lithium processing plant in Germany.
Rock Tech Lithium said it has received permission to build and operate a refinery in the border town of Guben with Poland.
RockTech said in a news release on May 31 that this marks a landmark moment for both the company and the German battery value chain. The occasion was marked with a permission-granting ceremony in Potsdam, which was attended by Brandenburg state officials and various government dignitaries.
The start date for construction has not yet been decided.
RockTec CEO Dirk Herbecke said in a statement that the approval gives the company a degree of legitimacy and will help it secure the final project funding from lenders.
“This permit not only allows us to move forward to the final stages of project financing, but also proves that our vision works and that the Guben converter can serve as a blueprint for other refinery projects around the world,” he said.
“We expect to shortly complete grant negotiations and equity terms with our strategic partners, followed shortly by the credit approval process with our banking partners, with the aim of taking a final investment decision (FID) in the third quarter of this year.”
However, supplies to the Gouben refinery will come through international brokers, rather than from RockTec's Lake Georgia lithium deposit near Lake Nipigon.
RockTech signed a raw materials deal in April with lithium industry giant C&D Logistics, which has links to spodumene mines in Australia, Africa and Brazil. RockTech already has offtake agreements in place with major automakers.
There are separate plans to build a second refinery at Red Rock to receive feedstock from the Lake Georgia Spodumene Project, a future mine located 17 kilometres south of Beardmore and 145 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.
RockTec secured a long-term lease last spring with development partner BMI Group to secure the site of a former paper mill in Red Rock on the north shore of Lake Superior, with construction expected to begin sometime in 2025.
The mined material is transported from Lake Georgia, 60 kilometers north, via Highway 11.
Spodumene, a widely used and popular rock due to its high lithium content, is crushed into concentrate and trucked to Red Rock, where the material is converted into AA battery-grade materials such as lithium hydroxide, which are in demand in the electric vehicle market.
RockTech is positioning its Red Rock facility as a regional hub processing plant, sourcing lithium from other mines in the region and also sourcing raw materials as a recycler of waste batteries.
