LITHIUM: Nemaska signs first commercial offtake agreement for Whabouchi

QUEBEC CITY – Nemaska Lithium has signed its first commercial offtake agreement for lithium salt with Johnson Matthey Battery Materials. The agreement includes an up-front payment of $12 million to Nemaska for future delivery from Nemaska’s phase one plant. The money will be deposited in an escrow account and be disbursed according to certain milestones. A second agreement between Nemaska and Johnson Matthey establishes a long term supply relationship between the two companies. Nemaska says it now has full financing for the $38 million it will take to build the plant and operate it for two years. Besides Johnson Matthey’s $12 million, Nemaska has a $13 million grant from Sustainable Development Technologies Canada, a $3 million grant from the Technoclimat program administered by Quebec’s Bureau de l’efficacité et de l’innovation énergétiques, and a $10 million equity investment by Ressources Québec. Nemaska is developing the Whabouchi mine 300 km northwest of Chibougamau. Spodumene concentrate produced at that site will be refined into lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate at a plant in Shawinigan, QC. Learn more about the technical applications of lithium in today’s world at www.NemaskaLithium.com.