Tucked up in a remote corner of northwestern Ontario, Frontier Lithium and president-CEO Trevor Walker are sitting on one of the largest, highest grade and mine-ready lithium projects in North America.
The total project life is 24 years. Ongoing exploration at PAK shows there’s more lithium to last for decades more. But in an interview with Northern Ontario Business, he acknowledges the lack of infrastructure is hindering them from unlocking the full potential of a viable project that has the legs to last multiple generations.
The prefeasibility study confirmed to Frontier that PAK could be this continent’s largest and lowest cost producer of lithium hydroxide, the much-coveted battery-grade material that’s in demand by battery and car-makers like LG Energy Solution, Stellantis, Umicore and Volkswagen, now setting up battery plants in southern Ontario.
But unlike the drama of the nickel and chromite play 500 kilometres to the east, Walker said they maintain solid and supportive relationships with the neighbouring Oji-Cree communities of Treaty 5 in whose traditional lands they operate. “We’re pretty excited to essentially have three-quarters of the distance to our project that’s fully permitted and awaiting funding.”
The design for a $25-million engineered timber bridge is in and the wait is on for Ottawa to deliver funding, hopefully by 2024, to start bridge construction over a two-year period. As Frontier moves closer to a production decision, there will be impact benefit agreements with the communities to be signed.