Rock Tech Lithium will use the funding to examine whether crude tall oil, a less-used byproduct of the provincial pulp and paper industry, can be applied as a flotation reagent to separate lithium-bearing minerals from rock and concentrate them during mining.
“Our crude tall oil is an organic product. It comes straight from the tree in our manufacturing process. It’s also close to home,” said Brenden Thew, Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper’s vice president of operations.
“And if the lithium processing facility is in northwestern Ontario, we obviously save with [the] logistics of being close to home.”
Currently, Thew said the mill can facilitate biorefinery side products, such as crude tall oil and turpentine.
“If we can find other uses for these side products and partner with other industries, especially in the region that can do a mutual benefit, it will be a good thing for us,” Thew said.
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