Rock Tech signs spodumene deal with Transamine in return for US$80 million in mine financing
Rock Tech Lithium has secured a buyer for the spodumene concentrate it intends to produce from its Georgia Lake mine project in northwestern Ontario.
Swiss commodities trader, Transamine SA, has signed an off-take agreement with the Canadian-German mine developer to purchase the first lithium spodumene concentrate produced at Georgia Lake in 2028.
In return, Geneva-based Transamine intends to deliver US$80 million in upfront financing toward the development of the planned open-pit and underground deposit.
Georgia Lake is south of Beardmore and 145 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. It contains lithium-bearing spodumene mineral hosted in a hard-rock pegmatite deposit. The company has outlined a 14.8-million-ounce lithium resource with an initial mine life of nine years.
The concentrate produced at the mine would be trucked 60 kilometres south to Red Rock where Rock Tech intends to build a lithium refinery on the north shore of Lake Superior. The refined chemical products would be sold to manufacturers in the North American battery sectors.
Rock Tech Chair Dirk Harbecke told reporters earlier this month, the company expects to begin mining at Georgia Lake in 2028 and begin refinery operations in Red Rock the year after. The expectation is to start refinery construction in the second quarter of 2027.
The off-take deal involves Transamine purchasing spodumene concentrate over an initial term of seven years with an option to extend for five more years. Volumes would begin at 50,000 tonnes the first year before ramping up to 100,000 tonnes a year.
Transamine has an option built into this agreement to convert the concentrate into the more processed battery-grade material, lithium hydroxide monohydrate and/or battery-grade lithium carbonate.
The refinery will be built on the site of the former Norampac mill site on Red Rock Bay through a partnership with the BMI Group, the property owner.
Red Rock is one of two refinery projects Rock Tech has on the books. The other one is a shovel-ready project in Guben, Germany, which is not yet under construction. A recent article in a digital electric vehicle industry publication said the company is struggling with financing for the converter project.
Rock Tech claims its Guben plant has been recognized as a “strategic project” under the European Union Critical Raw Materials Act.
The Georgia Lake deposit and the refinery concept is not designated as a significant nation-building project in Canada.
To date, the only project-related funds delivered by the federal government to Rock Tech has been $1.4 million to beef up to a 10-kilometre access and material haul road leading into the deposit. The province recently ponied up $262,500 in innovation fund to research the use of crude tall oil as a separation agent in processing lithium minerals.
Rock Tech is calling this agreement an important step to advance its Ontario lithium supply chain by securing a long-term commercial deal.
“This agreement demonstrates how Rock Tech is turning critical minerals ambition into execution,” said Mirco Wojnarowicz, CEO of Rock Tech in a July 24 news release.
“It provides a long-term, commercial foundation for the Georgia Lake mine’s future production, strengthens our financing pathway, and – together with the prepayment facility – brings us another step closer to building the integrated mine-to-converter platform with the flexibility to convert raw material into battery-grade lithium chemicals through our Red Rock Lithium Converter. Together with the prepayment facility, the agreement brings us another step closer to building an integrated mine-to-converter platform and supporting a stable, secure supply of battery-grade lithium for Canada and its allies.”