Energy Plug wants to enter into a long-term partnership with the Malahat First Nation. Plans are to build a 100,000-square-foot battery assembly and research facility at the nation’s Malahat Business Park, a 52-acre industrial park in Mill Bay, roughly 40 killometres north of Victoria and fronting the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Malahat First Nation were offered to hold 51 percent of Energy Plug’s planned enterprise
Canada’s first Indigenous-led gigafactory could take shape on Vancouver Island
Apartnership between a Vancouver Island First Nation and a Vancouver company focused on lithium battery assembly is touting itself as Canada’s first Indigenous-led gigafactory.
A gigafactory is a large-scale manufacturing facility where electric batteries are produced and/or assembled on a grand scale.
“We were looking for a long-term partnership with an understanding of our vision of renewable technology,” says Broderick Gunning, CEO and president of Energy Plug, whose business is assembling lithium iron phosphate battery packs for residential and commercial storage uses.
Energy Plug wants to enter into a long-term partnership with the Malahat First Nation. Plans are to build a 100,000-square-foot battery assembly and research facility at the nation’s Malahat Business Park, a 52-acre industrial park in Mill Bay, roughly 40 killometres north of Victoria and fronting the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Malahat First Nation, with 51 per cent ownership, would be responsible for building the facility, while Energy Plug would provide leadership, sales, partnerships and finance creation of the internal systems, which include offices, engineering, robotics, research and development.
The Malahat First Nation’s director of economic development notes negotiations haven’t concluded for the project. COURTESY BRODERICK GUNNING, CEO OF ENERGY PLUG — The proposed 100,000-square-foot battery assembly facility to be built at the Malahat Nation’s Business Park.
“We’re focused on land, utilities and a long-term partnership,” says Tristan Gale, who started work with the nation as a fisheries biologist almost eight years ago…..
“The Malahat checked all the boxes,” he says.
Those boxes include sitting at tidewater, access to electricity and being located in a free trade zone, a location where goods can be shipped, handled, manufactured, reconfigured and re-exported without involvement of customs agencies.
Gale points out with 11 kilometres of waterfront, the Malahat First Nation is in charge of one of the few deep-sea ports on the West Coast that isn’t booked up.
As well, the Malahat First Nation is a Land Code Nation, which means the nation is in control of zoning, permitting and taxation on its lands.
Also driving the project is that locally the Malahat Nation, amongst others, will eventually exceed the amount of electricity available. By having a majority stake in the battery facility, the nation will be able to both build and use the battery storage systems, Gale says.
And after more than 25 years of negotiations, the Malahat Nation is close to finalizing the transfer to it of an estimated 3,000 acres of land, which will add to its energy needs. Having the electricity for both new lands and industry, and for existing band members, roughly 370 today, is important for future development, Gale says.
Once built, the factory will also be used for research on lithium, nickel, manganese, cobalt, sodium-ion and solid state batteries.
Then we see Vancouver based Lithium Americas is to mine lithium in a beauty spot in Nevada:
Lithium Americas Provides a Thacker Pass Construction Plan Update
03/14/2024
(All amounts in US$ unless otherwise indicated)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Lithium Americas Corp. (TSX: LAC) (NYSE: LAC) (“Lithium Americas” or the “Company”) provides a construction plan update for its Thacker Pass lithium project located in Humboldt County, Nevada (“Thacker Pass” or the “Project”).
It is on the land of indigenous local tribes. For 5 years this land has been the scene of protests to the mine, who ask :
“One, we wanted to stop the mine, but two, we wanted to force a bigger conversation about whether this transition to so-called green energy was actually green and whether we can really save the natural world by destroying more of the natural world, which is what it will take to manufacture things like electric cars and electric car batteries. But my involvement in this campaign is very much based in my love for the natural world and my recognition that everyone’s wellbeing is tied up in the wellbeing of the natural world. And this new wave of extraction for so-called green energy is just going to be another wave of destruction.”
For more details of the protests, and of legal action being taken against them, see:
General Motors are major investors in the project, which was encouraged by the Biden administration.
GM, LAC sign $625-million agreement in push to secure lithium supply in the West
The Vancouver, Canada-based Lithium Americas (LAC) entered into a new $625-million investment agreement with the US automaker General Motors (GM) for establishing a joint venture to fund, develop, construct and operate LAC’s Thacker Pass lithium mine, the company announced on Wednesday October 16
In October 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a $2.26 billion loan to Lithium Americas Corp’s subsidiary, Lithium Nevada Corp. (including $1.97 billion of principal and $289.7 million of capitalized interest), to help finance the construction of facilities for manufacturing lithium carbonate at Thacker Pass in Humboldt County, Nevada. The project is located next to a mine site that contains the largest confirmed lithium resource in North America. Once fully operational, the facility is expected to produce approximately 40,000 tonnes per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate for use in lithium-ion batteries.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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