Sudbury's Frontier Lithium aims to develop critical electric car battery resource

A Sudbury-based company has big plans to mine and process a mineral that is a critical part of batteries in electric vehicles and portable electronics.

Frontier Lithium is exploring two lithium deposits in northwestern Ontario that have enough resources to build almost 500,000 batteries per year for electric vehicles.

"Many reference lithium ion as the gasoline of the future," said Trevor Walker, the company's president and CEO.

"So the sky's the limit. This is really an interesting time because as we've got decarbonization efforts taking place around the world, coupled with sensitive supply chains that's been highlighted as a result of the pandemic, it's a really interesting opportunity in front of us."

Lithium is the lightest known metal and has a high energy density that makes it ideal for batteries. It is a key component of lithium ion batteries that are commonplace in everything from cell phones to electric vehicles from manufacturers like Tesla, Nissan and Ford.

And that market is growing fast. Many countries, including Canada and the United States, have set targets to phase out gas-powered vehicles and usher in new electric vehicles that don't produce greenhouse gases.

In the summer, the Liberal government announced all new cars and light-duty trucks sold in Canada by 2035 must be zero-emission vehicles.

Walker said the global market for the batteries that power these vehicles could reach more than a trillion dollars.

He said China currently controls most of the market for rare earth metals that are necessary for battery production. But he added Ontario has a "golden opportunity" to be a leader in the market, with strong mineral deposits in the north, and the automotive manufacturing sector in the south.

Frontier Lithium has stakes in two northwestern Ontario deposits that hold an estimated 30 million tons of high grade lithium. For the last eight months, the company has been drilling samples at those sites to increase its confidence in the resource.

If all goes to plan, Walker said they could have a working mine within five years.

But beyond mining the metal, the company also wants to refine it into battery-ready chemicals in Ontario.

Refining in Ontario

Refining the metal in Canada is critical, said Stan Sudol, a mining columnist and the owner of the Republic of Mining website.

"The push for refineries to produce battery-grade lithium is so important because we can use that leverage into enticing both battery manufacturers and the electric vehicle assembly plants to southern Ontario," he said.

Sudol said metal refineries often provide consistent and high-paying jobs for generations. Sudbury's two smelters, for example, were built in the 1930s and continue to operate. 

He said Thunder Bay would be a strong candidate for a lithium processing facility, due to its proximity to shipping routes along the Great Lakes. 

Sudol said Ontario is "in the driver's seat" due to growing world demand for lithium ion batteries.

"Everybody in the entire auto chain is very worried that with the increased demand for electric vehicle production and the slowness in getting mining approval, that there are going to be shortages of nickel, lithium, graphite, rare earth (metals)," he said. 

Sudol added the high demand for such metals will require new mines in Canada and around the world.

"If we're not allowed to dig these battery metals out of the ground, then the entire decarbonization agenda by producing electric vehicles is dead as a doornail," he said.

Ontario Minister of Northern Development and Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry Greg Rickford said the province has already invested in mining companies to develop the resources needed for batteries.

"We invested $360,000 in Frontier Lithium's efforts to help the Greater Sudbury-based junior mining company demonstrate its new innovative extraction process for lithium," he said.

The province also invested $5 million to support junior mining company First Cobalt, based in Cobalt, Ontario, to develop a cobalt processing facility. The federal government has invested another $5 million to support that initiative.

Cobalt is also an important component of lithium ion batteries. 

Rickford said the government is also working to fast-track three lithium mining sites in Ontario, including Frontier Lithium's proposed site.

Made in America strategy

In his plan to transition to zero-emission vehicles, United States President Joe Biden has made a push for the batteries and semiconductors needed for the transition to be made in the United States.   

"President Biden is making Donald Trump look like Doris Day on protectionism," Rickford said. 

"This guy wants to get out there and build out regulations around automotive manufacturing and thresholds and quotas that force manufacturers from around the world, and now global operators like Ford, GM and Chrysler, to have to do that in the United States."

Rickford said the United States does not have access to the same mineral deposits needed to make the batteries, however, and Ontario has a unique opportunity to build the entire supply chain, from mining to production.

"So the risk we run is if we don't get competitive in the entire supply chain then we just become an extraction activity, maybe refining and processing, and then it goes to the United States so that they can make the batteries," he said.