Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. Ventures into North American Lithium Mines, Reducing China Dependency

According to a report by Nikkei Newspaper on the 5th, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation is set to develop lithium mines in North America in a joint venture with a Canadian mining company.

Mitsubishi Corporation will invest in a joint venture established by Frontier Lithium, a Canadian company that owns the mining rights to North American lithium mines.

Initially, it will invest 25 million Canadian dollars (about 2.7 billion yen) to secure a 7.5% stake, then invest more than 5 billion yen to increase its stake to 25%.

The company plans to conduct investigations for commercialization by 2025 and enter industrial production from 2027.

From 2030, it aims to produce batteries exclusively for electric vehicles (EVs).

The target lithium mine is located in central Ontario, Canada.

With over 58 million tons of lithium deposits, it is expected to become the largest-scale lithium mine owned by a Japanese company.

The annual lithium production is expected to reach 3,800 tons, enough to manufacture 300,000 electric vehicles.

Mitsubishi Corporation plans to establish a base in North America, where it can handle everything from mine development to refining.

Through this, Mitsubishi Corporation will become the first Japanese company to produce lithium in North America.

Mitsubishi Corporation’s investment is seen as a move to secure a new supply chain outside China. Lithium is made from the brine of salt lakes or ore, and salt lakes are concentrated in areas with high geopolitical risk, such as China and Chile.

While ore is abundant in Australia and Canada, most refineries that process it for battery use are in China.

With about half of the refineries located in China, economic security has been challenging.