U.S. Looking to Canada for Lithium and Other Minerals to Build Electric Vehicles

FinancialNewsMedia.com News Commentary

News provided by

Mar 22, 2021, 08:45 ET

PALM BEACH, FL, March 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. government is working to help American miners and battery makers expand into Canada, part of a strategy to boost regional production of minerals used to make electric vehicles and counter Chinese dominance. Recently, the U.S. Department of Commerce hosted a closed-door virtual meeting with miners and battery manufacturers to discuss ways to boost Canadian production of EV materials, according to documents seen by Reuters. The move comes as demand for electrified transportation is set to surge over the next decade. Conservationists have strongly opposed several large U.S. mining projects, leading officials to look north of the border to Canada and its supply of 13 of the 35 minerals deemed critical for national defense by Washington. Tesla, Albemarle, Talon Metals and Livent were among the more-than 30 attendees at the meeting who discussed ways Washington can assist U.S. companies expand in Canada and overcome logistical challenges, according to the documents. The event comes after U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed last month to building an EV supply chain between the two countries. Since Biden's election, three U.S. mining companies have invested in Canada, where mining accounts for 5% of the country's gross domestic product, versus roughly 0.9% in the United States. Active stocks in the markets this week include QMC Quantum Minerals Corp., (TSX-V: QMC) (OTCPK: QMCQF), Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE: LAC) (TSX: LAC), Lithium South Development Corporation (TSX-V: LIS) (OTCQB: NRGMF), Neo Lithium Corp. (OTCQX: NTTHF) (TSX-V: NLC), Critical Elements Lithium Corporation (OTCQX: CRECF) (TSX-V: CRE).

An article in CNBC.com said that: ""The United States is really taking this seriously," said an industry CEO. Lithium-ion batteries are dangerous to transport over long distances, so automakers prefer to have them built near assembly plants. That should aid efforts by Ontario and Quebec to develop their own battery cell plants with both provinces close to U.S. automakers in Michigan and Ohio, industry executives said. To be sure, the United States is also trying to boost domestic production of EV metals, which the Biden administration has said is critical. But Washington is increasingly viewing Canada as a kind of "51st State" for mineral supply purposes and plans to deepen financial and logistical partnerships with the country's mining sector over time, according to a U.S. government source. "You're beginning to see Canada become an important part of the North American EV supply chain," said Keith Phillips, CEO of Piedmont Lithium Limited (NASDAQ: PLL)."

QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. (TSX-V: QMC) (OTCPK: QMCQF) BREAKING NEWS QMC APPOINTS DANIEL LEROUX AS TECHNICAL ADVISOR - QMC Quantum Minerals Corp., ("QMC" or "the Company") has appointed Daniel Leroux, M.Sc., P. Geo, as a technical advisor to assist the Company with the focus of increasing the resource at Irgon Lithium Mine Project and bringing it to production in Manitoba. Similarly, Mr. Leroux will also help QMC to develop the Namew Lake District project containing nickel, copper, and gold. Mr. Leroux was the former Global Business Manager – Geological Services for SGS and managed staff and consultants that worked on many significant world-wide lithium pegmatite projects including Sigma Lithium (Brazil) and Nemaska Lithium (Quebec).

Daniel Leroux commented: "I am excited join the QMC team as a technical advisor and help them advance their Irgon Lithium Project towards production. With a project which has the Irgon pegmatite dike system as well as several additional lithium pegmatite dikes swarms identified to date and nearby infrastructure in place, unlike many other projects, the Irgon Project could be a low-cost producer. QMC will be an important part of the Canadian Government 's recently announced 31 minerals considered critical for the sustainable economic success of Canada (March 11, 2021)."

Balraj Mann commented: "We are excited to have Daniel joining the team with his expertise. Access to his global network of experts and service providers will help move the Company's Irgon Lithium Mine Project towards production. QMC will be an important part of the supply chain due to its close proximity to EV and battery manufacturing plants. The Irgon Lithium Mine's pegmatite dikes additionally contain cesium, niobium, tantalum, and other rare-earth metals."

Mr. Leroux is a bilingual (French-English) economic geologist with over 25+ years of diversified geological, project generation, mining, mineral processing, project management, corporate and executive experience with both major and junior mining companies and with geological and mining consultancy firms. Mr. Leroux is currently the CEO and Vice President Exploration of Zodiac Gold Inc. a Canadian based private mineral exploration and development company with gold projects located in Liberia. From 2003 to 2015, he was the co-owner and Vice President of A.C.A. Howe International Limited (A.C.A. Howe), a geological and mining consulting firm established in 1960 that operated offices in Toronto, Canada and London, UK until the Canadian operation was acquired by CSA Global in 2016. A.C.A Howe was instrumental in the discovery of the Bernic Lake (Cabot/Sinomine) tantalum mine in the early 1960's. From 2011 to 2013, Daniel was the Vice President Exploration and in 2014, the President of RDX Minerals Inc. a private Canadian-based junior mining company. From 1988-1990, Daniel worked for Inco Exploration and Technical Services (now Vale) and with Placer Dome in 1991.

Mr. Leroux holds both a B.Sc. degree (Geology) and a Master of Science in Mineral Exploration degree from Laurentian University. He is a registered member of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario ("APGO"), the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan ("APEGS") and l 'Ordre des géologues du Québec ("OGQ"). Read this release for the QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. news at: https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-qmc/

Other recent developments in the markets include:

Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE: LAC) (TSX: LAC) has recently reported financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2020. This news release should be read in conjunction with Lithium Americas' consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2020, which are available on the Company's website and SEDAR.

During the year ended December 31, 2020, total assets increased primarily due to the proceeds raised from the $100.0 million ATM Program, partially offset by a decrease as a result of closing the transaction with a subsidiary of Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. ("Ganfeng") and cessation of proportional consolidation of Caucharí-Olaroz with transition to equity accounting for the project investment. Cash increased due to the ATM Program proceeds and the $40.0 million of loans repaid to the Company upon closing of the transaction with Ganfeng partially offset by capital expenditures on Caucharí-Olaroz and operating activities, including exploration expenditures on Thacker Pass. Total long-term liabilities increased primarily as a result of a $24.7 million drawdown on the Company's limited recourse loan facility and a $12.0 million drawdown on the Company's senior credit facility, partially offset by the effect of closing the transaction with Ganfeng. Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2020, was $36.2 million compared to net income of $51.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Net income in 2019 was a result of the gain on dilution of interest in Caucharí-Olaroz.

Lithium South Development Corporation (TSX-V: LIS) (OTCQB: NRGMF) recently reported completion of laboratory scale evaluation using synthetic brine modeled on the Hombre Muerto North Lithium Project (HMN Li Project) chemical composition. The test work was completed by Chengdu Chemphys Chemical Industry Ltd. (Chemphys) utilizing its proprietary XFP-Lithium Direct Lithium Extraction process, which selectively extracts lithium ions from brine. Testing was performed at the Chemphys ISO certified facility in Chengdu, China. Independent check sampling was completed at the PONY Testing International Group Co Ltd., an ISO/IEC 17020 and ISO/IEC 17025 certified laboratory. All work was completed under the supervision of Don Hains of Hains Technology Associates of Toronto, Canada, who is acting as the Qualified Person.

The process conditions were screened to select optimized parameters, (including operating at 25 oC). The average lithium recovery achieved was 80%, producing an intermediate lithium sulfate product enriched from 0.7 g/L Li to 1.7g/L Li. This represents a near 100% increase in lithium extraction, in comparison to the conventional evaporation process results completed by the Company. The laboratory test work shows good selectivity of the adsorption process, high Li adsorption, elution and total recovery rate and low adsorbent loss rate. Chemphys also determined that the intermediate lithium sulfate produced met the feedstock quality requirements to directly produce battery grade lithium carbonate.

Neo Lithium Corp. (OTCQX: NTTHF) (TSXV: NLC) recently announced that Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited ( ("CATL"), a leading Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company that specializes in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems, and battery management systems has provided notice to the Company of its intention to subscribe, through a subsidiary and pursuant to its Investor Rights Agreement (described below), on a non-brokered private placement basis, for 860,870 common shares of the Company at a price of C$3.05 per Share for aggregate gross proceeds to the Company of C$2,625,652, to maintain its 8% equity interest in the Company.

Critical Elements Lithium Corporation (OTCQX: CRECF) (TSX-V: CRE) recently announced that the Joint Assessment Committee established by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and the Cree Nation Government (the "Committee") has published its draft report following the environmental impact assessment on the Rose Lithium Tantalum Project ("Rose" or the "Project") in which the Committee concludes that the Project is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects, considering the implementation of key mitigation measures. The Committee has also published the potential conditions with which the proponent must comply.

The publication of the provisory conclusions of the environmental impact assessment draft report brings the Company one step closer to obtaining the final authorization for the Project. In the meantime, the provincial authorization process is also underway as provided in its press release dated March 8, 2021.

DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates Financialnewsmedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed FNM has been compensated forty six hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press releases issued by QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. by the Company. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

Contact Information:

Media Contact email: [email protected], - +1(561)325-8757

SOURCE Financialnewsmedia.com