___________________________________________________________________________________________ Rock
Tech Lithium
Rock Tech Lithium( Rock Tech) is a German Canadian technology company headquartered in Toronto. The business started off as a typical lithium exploration business in Ontario, but when the leadership team saw the emergent opportunities in refining, it made a key strategic pivot. CEO, Mirco Wojnarowicz sheds light on the decision:“ We became firmly convinced that refining capacity will be the bottleneck in future li-ion battery supply chains in Europe and North America, so we shifted our focus to that,” he explains.“ Now, we have integrated upstream and downstream projects, namely our Georgia Lake spodumene project close to Beardmore in Ontario, and our high-tech refineries, which we call converters, in Guben, Germany and Red Rock, Ontario. Our goal is to supply Europe and North America with sustainable, regionally produced battery-grade lithium – for an independent, resilient, and competitive value chain. In the medium term, we want to close the regional battery cycle by processing lithium from recycled old batteries.”
He continues with more details around the German converter site at Guben, which is currently under development.“ All engineering studies have been completed, and the project is shovel ready. Moreover, it is fully permitted for construction and operations, so no further permits will be required. The site has been cleared and fenced off, and gas pipelines and rail facilities for transporting
raw materials have been built. With an
age
ensure vital supply chain resilience annual production capacity of 24,000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide, the plant will be able to supply material for around 500,000 electric vehicles.
“ We have signed a binding offtake agreement with Mercedes-Benz for 40 percent of the nameplate capacity and are in negotiations to commit another 40 percent. Spodumene feedstock supply is contractually secured with C & D Logistics, who will supply up to the full required amount from Australian or Brazilian sources.” Additionally, GEA Group AG, one of the company’ s key partners and a global leader in process technology, will supply crystallization and zero-liquid discharge systems for its lithium converter in Guben. Such is the significance of the Guben converter, that it is recognized as a strategic EU project under the Critical Raw Materials Act – one of only two hard rock lithium converter projects in Germany.“ This demonstrates that our project is crucial in achieving the EU’ s target of reaching 40 percent local refining for required critical raw materials by 2030,” adds Mirco.
“ Financing discussions with equity and debt financiers for the Guben converter are progressing. Securing the additional 40 percent of binding offtake will be crucial for that. So far, we are seeing strong support for our project, for instance from the European Investment Bank, which has provided a 150-million-euro letter of support, and multiple export credit agencies. On top of that we are targeting 100 million euros in subsidies, which will be an important signal in the current geopolitical landscape.”
Rock Tech is using the design of the Guben converter as its blueprint for implementing further converters, including in Canada, aiming to efficiently scale operations in a high-growth market.“ Through technology and knowledge transfer, we aim to accelerate planning, approval, and implementation timelines. In addition, with our zero-waste approach and low carbon dioxide footprint
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