Rock Tech Lithium Awarded $262,500 from Ontario's Critical Minerals Innovation Fund to Advance Made-in-Ontario Lithium Supply Chain

Ontario's Critical Minerals Innovation Fund has awarded Rock Tech $262,500 to evaluate and validate the use of locally-sourced crude tall oil, a by-product of Ontario's pulp and paper sector, as a potential flotation reagent for lithium processing, supporting supply chain development and cross-sector collaboration.

The project will be completed in collaboration with Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper and Queen's University, bringing together Ontario-based industrial supply, critical minerals development and research expertise.

The project aims to connect Ontario's forestry and critical minerals sectors by creating a potential new market for forestry-derived products in lithium processing.

The project is intended to evaluate whether locally sourced crude tall oil could support more localized reagent supply, provide data for future technical and economic optimization work and reduce reliance on imported or conventional processing inputs.

The project is intended to evaluate whether locally sourced crude tall oil could, if successfully validated, support more localized and potentially lower-emission battery and critical minerals supply chains, including supply chains relevant to advanced manufacturing and energy storage applications, support future technical and economic optimization work and reduce reliance on imported or conventional processing inputs.

The initiative supports Rock Tech's broader Ontario mine-to-converter strategy, including the Georgia Lake Lithium Project and the proposed Red Rock Lithium Converter, strengthening a made-in-Ontario critical minerals supply chain while creating new opportunities across multiple sectors of the provincial economy.

This marks Rock Tech's second CMIF-supported initiative, following its previously announced ore sorting program, which identified a potential p...