GT1 lays groundwork for 2024 development at Seymour as it looks to become Ontario’s first lithium mover

Green Technology Metals is preparing to move into development in 2024 at its flagship Seymour lithium project in Ontario, signaling its intention to be a first mover in the Canadian territory’s burgeoning lithium industry.

With a dedicated and experienced permitting team established in Ontario, Green Technology Metals (ASX:GT1) could become Canada’s first domestic lithium hydroxide producer too, securing a land package for a conversion facility in Thunder Bay.

A formal submission of project definition has been sent to the Ontario Minister of Mines to initiate the permitting process, with third year baseline environmental assessments under way and a mining lease application over the 9.9Mt at 1.04% Li2O Seymour project submitted.

Approvals will now be progressed alongside engagement with the local indigenous community, with experienced community relations expert Roger Souckey appointed as the VP of Communities to lead GT1’s Indigenous Engagement and Agreement negotiations and a new office established in Toronto along with a project development manager to lead the public environmental assessment and feasibility study.

GT1’s CEO Luke Cox says the company is moving from exploration to development phase, with activities planned to make Seymour construction ready next year.

“We have successfully expanded our team to include experts in permitting, community consultation and project studies within the Ontario region,” he said.

“At GT1 we acknowledge and respect all traditional custodians of the land in which we operate and are committed to meaningful consultation with our Indigenous partners and their representatives as we look to progress our project with their support and approval.

“Exploration will continue across the region as we develop our resources that will feed a centralised processing hub at Seymour and in parallel the team will continue to work through the environmental studies, permitting and development discussions with our indigenous community partners.”

Lithium hydroxide test work under way

While Ontario is yet to see a standalone lithium mine get off the ground, GT1 is already thinking bigger, with plans to head downstream into the production of lithium hydroxide.

GT1 is accelerating exploration to the north of its North Aubry deposit at Seymour, which doubled last year, to build up resources ahead of its development phase. From the start of construction in 2024, the company is planning to produce spodumene concentrate from 2025 and hydroxide from 2027.

A key input in high-range nickel-cobalt-manganese cathode lithium ion batteries, lithium chemicals produced in North America will be sought after by electric vehicle producers.

In particular, they will be hot on products that help them qualify for tax credits contained within the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which is seeking to boost the proportion of raw materials in US manufactured EVs that come from the United States or free-trade aligned nations like Canada.

GT1 has collected a 99t bulk sample of LCT pegmatite at Seymour from pegmatite outcrop and transported it to the Saskatchewan Research Centre in Saskatoon for met test work to optimise the conversion process in its integrated project study.

The company has already entered a letter of intent over a land package in Thunder Bay for the conversion plant, selected after a nine month regional assessment process over more than 50 sites in North Western Ontario.

“The land package acquisition is subject to environmental due diligence to determine its viability, permit approval capability and acceptability to the local community,” the company said.

This article was developed in collaboration with Green Technology Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

The post GT1 lays groundwork for 2024 development at Seymour as it looks to become Ontario’s first lithium mover appeared first on Stockhead.

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