EcoPro Co.’s $1.2 billion funding in Bécancour, Que., with companions Ford Motor Co. and SK On Co. could also be simply step one within the provider’s wider plans for the East Coast province.

As the corporate’s battery supplies unit EcoPro BM introduced the long-awaited cathode lively supplies (CAM) undertaking on Aug. 17, one other arm of the South Korea-based provider started talks with the federal and provincial governments a few separate facility in Quebec centered on lithium manufacturing.

In keeping with lobbyist filings with every degree of presidency, EcoPro Innovation is seeking to faucet public funding for the event of a lithium hydroxide manufacturing plant at an unnamed location in Quebec. The location, which might be able to processing mined lithium right into a battery-ready feedstock, would possible provide the $1.2 billion CAM plant now underneath development in Bécancour, halfway between Montreal and Quebec Metropolis.

Within the Aug. 13 federal submitting, lobbyists performing on behalf of EcoPro Innovation stated the corporate was pursuing help from Ottawa’s Strategic Innovation Fund. Additionally it is in search of help from Quebec’s financial system ministry, in keeping with the provincial lobbyist registry.

Innovation, Science and Financial Growth Canada didn’t reply to a request for remark. The division sometimes refuses to debate the standing of talks with potential traders.

Whereas the lobbyist filings don’t point out whether or not EcoPro has determined to construct a second facility in Quebec, a vertically built-in set of vegetation could be in step with its footprint in South Korea. On the firm’s Pohang campus, EcoPro Innovation produces lithium hydroxide, which is then utilized by EcoPro BM to provide CAM for electrical car battery cells.

In selecting Quebec for the CAM plant, EcoPro BM CEO Jae-hwan Joo pointed to the province’s shops of vital minerals, its clear and low cost energy provide, and its expert workforce as key elements. He informed reporters the corporate was in Bécancour for the “long-term,” however gave no indication about EcoPro’s doable plans for additional funding.

Quebec is shortly turning into a hub for supplies manufacturing, as automakers and battery cell producers construct out their North American battery provide chains.

Together with the EcoPro-Ford-SK CAM plant, a three way partnership between Normal Motors and chemical firm Posco Future M started constructing a comparable facility in Bécancour final yr. Different processing corporations and miners are pursuing plans for amenities that can produce lithium hydroxide, in addition to nickel and cobalt sulfates to produce the downstream vegetation with ample portions of the battery metals.