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Federal Ministers tour Avalon’s planned lithium processing site in Thunder Bay

From left: Zeeshan Syed, President, Avalon Advanced Materials, Inc., François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Jim Jaques, Chief Administrative Officer, Avalon, Marcus Powlowski, Member of Parliament, Thunder Bay-Rainy River. (CNW Group/Avalon Advanced Materials Inc.)

THUNDER BAY — Consistent with its objective to build Ontario’s vertically integrated lithium supply chain serving the North American EV battery market, Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. hosted François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and FedNor and other officials for a private tour of the company’s planned lithium processing site in Thunder Bay, ON.

The ministers were joined by Marcus Powlowski, MP for Thunder Bay-Rainy River.

The delegation toured Avalon’s 383-acre industrial property on Strathcona Avenue that features transportation infrastructure including, road, rail and deep-water port access.

The Avalon team provided the delegation with details of its burgeoning project plan for an Industrial Park concept that includes Ontario’s lithium processing facility, an Innovation, Technology and R&D Hub as well as lithium battery recycling capabilities, all of which will help catalyze Ontario’s economy, generate long-term job growth and deploy sustainable innovative process technology.

“We are extremely pleased to host the ministers and other dignitaries to showcase how far we’ve come in actualizing our vision to help decarbonize the economy and shift Canada to cleaner sources of energy—and underscore that we must continue to move quickly in order to secure Canada’s leading position in the global race to net-zero,” said Zeeshan Syed, President of Avalon.

“Avalon is developing the province’s first domestic supply chain that will link the considerable lithium deposits of Ontario’s north to an expanding EV battery manufacturing base in the south, which at present lacks a stable, regional supply of this strategically vital resource.”