First Phosphate Corp., Saguenay, Quebec, and Sun Chemical Corp., Parsippany, N.J., on Nov. 29 announced a nonbinding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the development of intermediates used for the manufacture of lithium iron phosphate-based cathode active material (LFP CAM) to support the developing North American battery market.
Sun will use its North America facilities to manufacture iron phosphate using the phosphate material of First Phosphate and its partners. Sun is a producer of inorganic pigments and is utilizing existing local factory capacity in North America and Europe to support the battery materials market.
The parties said co-precipitation-based cathode materials are manufactured using the same processes, domain knowledge, and equipment as for inorganic pigments, making this a natural fit.
The agreement will include the investigation of the best source of iron to use in the iron phosphate and lithium iron phosphate synthesis process, with preferred consideration for Sun’s current manufacturing capabilities of iron oxide precursors and First Phosphate’s mining source recovery of magnetite.
Sun and First Phosphate may develop a multi-party US Department of Energy grant application in conjunction with committed offtake agreements that could come from First Phosphate’s prospective customers.
First Phosphate is a mineral development company that holds over 1,500 square kilometers of royalty-free, district-scale land claims that it is developing in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean Region of Quebec. Its properties consist of rare anorthosite igneous phosphate rock that generally yields high purity phosphate material devoid of high concentrations of harmful elements.
Sun is a subsidiary of DIC Group, which has global exposure to capital and technology. DIC reports combined annual sales of more than $8.5 billion, has over 22,000 employees worldwide, and supports a diverse collection of global customers.