What progress has Green Technology Metals (GT1) made since its IPO?

Straight after our IPO we moved our team to Thunder Bay, Canada to setup the offices and started to expand the team in-country because we wanted to start drilling our Seymour project immediately, and knew we would need an early exploration agreement and an exploration permit to allow us to drill. Our team went straight up to Whitesand First Nation, introduced themselves. The drilling was approved, and our early exploration agreement was signed straight away. A week later we began our maiden drilling program and shortly after we built a 30-man exploration camp. The drilling was a success with the first drill hole on the property intersected high grade lithium with very thick intercepts.

In March 2022 we went back to our JV partner and increased our ownership of the assets from 51% to 80% and then raised A$55 million where we picked up a strategic investor, Lithium Americas Corp. LAC already had lithium brines in South America and Thacker Pass, a clay deposit in North America, but they wanted to break into hard rock spodumene in Canada.

We have kicked off drilling at our second project called Root, straight away hitting high-grade lithium. We now have two high-grade deposits that we are developing at the same time, but plan to bring our flagship Seymour project into production first.

What does GT1’s production timeline look like and what is the end product you are hoping to create?

To get into production we need a PEA which is already in progress and nearing completion. Our plan is to create a concentrate around 2025, which we will be looking at taking offsite, converting it into lithium hydroxide.

Why are partnerships essential in order to build a cohesive battery material supply chain?

If a small exploration company thinks they are going to become an all singing, all dancing, downstream producer, they have got a lot of work to do. That is why you must partner with downstream players. To build a lithium hydroxide facility, you are talking between US$500 million to US$750 million. Junior and even major mining companies are going to find it hard to invest that money.

What makes Thunder Bay well suited to become a battery materials hub? How does this contrast with the battery supply chain you previously worked in, from Australia to China?

I used to be the mine manager on one of the biggest lithium operations in the world, and at the time, we would crush the lithium down to sub 40 mil, put it on road trains, take it 300 km up to the port, upload it onto the sea bulk carriers, who would then then ship it to China. After being unloaded at the port in China, it would go onto barges, up the river to the converters. All that time we were burning diesel and bunker fuel. To top that off, a lot of these converters are powered by coal fired power stations. It is an oxymoron, because it felt like we were doing the right thing, but in the process of manufacturing that battery, we created an enormous carbon footprint. That is why I love Thunder Bay. The mine is a stone’s throw away, and the whole area is powered by Hydro One, so all of the power is green. Moreover, rather than traveling 30,000 km, I'm traveling ~300 km from the mine to the converter facility. And in the future, I believe you will see a battery manufacturing hub develop with a carbon footprint near zero - this would be a massive win for Thunder Bay.

The battery and car manufacturers that have already built their plants have a carbon footprint that is pretty much not changeable. Therefore, if we can lower the carbon footprint for the raw materials and chemicals that go into a battery, it will potentially receive a premium in the market. If the supply chain gets built, Thunder Bay will be producing some of the most premium low carbon lithium in the world, because it is not traveling large distances and created using green energy.