The company said last week it plans to build a 10,000-tonne-per-year iron phosphate plant 20 km from the deep-sea port of Saguenay. The plant is to serve as part of First Phosphate’s planned vertically integrated operation, transforming phosphate from its proposed mines into cathode active material (CAM). First output for the batteries that power about three-quarters of electric vehicles is expected in early 2026.
The company aims to make battery-grade phosphoric acid from igneous rock, which is confined to a few accessible places in the West, CEO John Passalacqua said during a presentation on Thursday in Toronto. It’s different than the fertilizer type of phosphate that comes from sedimentary deposits.
“This stuff is rarer than gold,” Passalacqua said. “Eighty percent of all the batteries in the world are now LFP. There’s not going to be phosphate anywhere to produce those LFP batteries. Why would I not be bullish?”
