The Whabouchi deposit is a lithium-bearing rare metal pegmatite. Emplacement of rare metal pegmatites is the last phase of the crystallization of a parent granite pluton. Highpressure residual fluids, with abundant water, silica, alumina, alkalis, and rich in rare elements and other volatiles from the crystallization of a pluton at modest depth, concentrate in the cupola or upper domed contact of the granite as it crystallizes. Under increasing pressure, this fluid dilates fractures in overlying rocks in a manner analogous to that of hydraulics in mechanical equipment, thereby providing feeder channels for emplacement of pegmatites at shallower depth. Progressive crystallization of the main rock-forming minerals out of this fluid enriches the final fluids in rare metals and the process culminates in the formation of rare metal pegmatites still under fluid pressure. A variety of types occur depending on the abundance and type of rare metals associated with the pluton and the physico-chemical conditions affecting the sequence of emplacement events.

The mineralization of economic interest at the Whabouchi site is found in spodumenebearing
rare metal bearing pegmatite dyke complexes. Spodumene is a lithium-bearing mineral, which contains 8 % Li2O when pure. Spodumene also contains minor amounts of niobium and tantalum. Assays for spodumene normally range between 7.6 % and 8.0 % Li2O depending on the degree of replacement by Na2O. Typically, the Whabouchi pegmatite sampled from drill core averages 1.62 % Li2O with values up to 4.59 % Li2O.

Rare metal bearing pegmatites are normally found in moderately metamorphosed terranes near vast granitic plutons: a possible parental source for the pegmatitic magmas. Pegmatites are associated with granitic intrusions and are generally zoned around these intrusive centers. Pegmatites tend to be more enriched in volatile elements further away from the intrusive centers. Pegmatites are thought to be derived from primary crystallization of highly differentiated volatile enriched granitic magmas. The host rocks of the intrusion also play a significant role in the final composition of the pegmatites due to the incorporation of host rock in the magma during the intrusive process.

Open Pit Mining:

The mining method selected for the Project will be a conventional open pit, truck and shovel, drill and blast operation. Vegetation, topsoil and overburden will be stripped and stockpiled for future reclamation use. The ore and waste rock will be mined with 10 m high benches, drilled, blasted and loaded into heavy duty off-road haul trucks with hydraulic excavators.

A topsoil and overburden stockpile has been designed 100 m to the east of the pit ramp exit, to the south of the concentrator. Material that will be placed in this stockpile will be used for future reclamation.

The mine plan is based on an annual production of 215,022 tonnes of concentrate, which is equivalent to a Run-of-Mine (“ROM”) production of 1.03 Mt/y. The total material mined per year during the 24-year life of the open pit mine ranges from 0.26 Mt in pre-production to a maximum of 5.3 Mt in Year 10. The average annual diluted grade of Li2O varies between 1.47 % to 1.59 % during the 24-year period.

The mine equipment fleet for the open pit includes six (6) 64-tonne haul trucks, two (2) hydraulic excavators with 6 m3 buckets, two (2) diesel powered down the hole track drills that will drill 114 mm (4.5") holes as well as a fleet of support and service equipment. Blasting will be carried out using bulk emulsion with an average powder factor of 0.37 kg/t. The mine workforce has been estimated to be approximately 109 employees.

Underground Mining:

The ore extraction will switch form an open pit operation to an underground mine located underneath the final pit floor in Year 24 of the operation. The duration of the underground mining is ten (10) years and is scheduled to be in operation from the beginning of Year 24 to the end of Year 33. An underground mine production ramp-up period of 14 months is planned during the last months of Year 23 to reach the cruising production rate of 1.3 Mt of ROM at the beginning of Year 25.

The mining methodology selected is 30-metre high long-hole type stopes. Based on the geotechnical and hydrogeological conditions, it is expected that backfilling of the excavated stopes will be required. The very last excavation phase consists of mining the 30 metre thick remaining crown pillar from the open pit floor.

The annual underground mine production requirement has been adjusted to maintain a similar lithium concentrate production of 215,022 t. An overlapping underground mine ramp up production period is planned with the open pit ore extraction finishing during Year 24 of operations. This will ensure an uninterrupted ROM feed to the concentrator.

The contractor will supply and operate the underground mining fleet consisting of two (2) development jumbos, two (2) production drills, three (3) LHDs, and four (4) haulage trucks. The underground haulage trucks will haul the ore and waste up to the mine portal where it will be dumped into stockpiles to be reclaimed by the Owner and hauled out of the pit to the crusher or waste dump.

The underground mine will require 86 employees for the development phase while 70 will be required during the production phase, excluding Owner's management and engineering team and waste and tailings personnel.

The process design has been split in two (2) locations. The concentrator plant will be located 675 m north east of the Whabouchi mine open pit while the Electrochemical Plant will be located in Shawinigan.

Whabouchi Concentrator.

The Whabouchi concentrator is located at 675 m north east of the open pit mine. The concentrator is designed to produce a nominal 215,022 tonnes of spodumene concentrate per year. The Run-of-Mine (“ROM”) mineralized material will be fed into the primary jaw crusher and then screened to suit the ore sorter feed limitation. The sorted material will then go to the secondary and tertiary cone crushers. The final crushed product will be stored into a stockpile before the concentrator.

The crushed mineralized material will be screened on the fine ore screen and the oversize will be upgraded in a dense media circuit after a stage of mica hydroseparation removal to produce a coarse spodumene concentrate, a tailings product and a middlings product. The DMS coarse concentrate will then be dried in a rotary dryer before treatment by a dry magnetic separation system. The magnetic product will be discarded with the tailings and the non-magnetic product will be the first portion of the final spodumene concentrate.

The DMS middlings product will be ground to less than 0.85 mm and combined with fine ore screen undersize. This ground product feeds a fine stage of mica hydroseparation removal and then goes to flotation circuit. The flotation circuit consists of de-sliming, wet magnetic separation, attrition and finally 2-stages of spodumene flotation. The flotation is performed at coarse size (- 850 µm /+ 200 µm) in an hydrofloat separation unit and at fine size (- 200 µm / 20 µm) by flotation columns circuit.

Tailings from DMS concentration, dry magnetic separation, mica hydroseparation, desliming, wet magnetic separation and flotation will be dewatered by a combination of screen dewatering, thickening and filtration before storage into a dome. The tailings will be transported by haul truck to the co-disposal area with mine waste.

The spodumene flotation concentrate will be thickened and filtered by a vertical plate pressure filter to less than eight percent (8 %) moisture and combined with the dry DMS concentrate for transport by road trucks to Chibougamau. The shipped concentrate will have moisture of less than five percent (5 %) to prevent freezing during the winter months. In Chibougamau, it will be transferred into railcars for transport to the Shawinigan Electrochemical plant for further processing.

Shawinigan Electrochemical Plant.

The Electrochemical plant process design criteria, mass balance, process flow sheets, equipment list as well as plant layouts were prepared for a plant feed rate of 215,022 t/y (dry) of spodumene concentrate. The facility is designed to produce 33,000 t/y of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (“LCE”) in the form of lithium hydroxide monohydrate crystals and lithium carbonate powder. The plant can vary the production of lithium hydroxide monohydrate crystals from 50 to 100 % of the total Li units produced and of lithium carbonate powder from 0 to 50 % of the total Li units produced.

The plant is scheduled to operate seven (7) days per week and 24 hours per day. The plant availability has been estimated at 85 % based on benchmarks with comparable industries and high-level availability analysis. The overall lithium recovery is based on laboratory results and extensive mass balance modeling.

The spodumene concentrate is transported from the mine and concentrator site to the process plant in 92-tonne railcars (100 short tons). The plant feed consists of a blend of Dense Media Separation (“DMS”) concentrate and flotation concentrate.

The first major process step is the calcination of the concentrate where the spodumene mineral is converted from the alpha form to the beta form. Then, the beta-spodumene is mixed with sulfuric acid in a pug mixer and the blend of acid and mineral is sent to an acid-bake kiln. The heat provided in the kiln allows the reaction of oxides with the sulfuric acid to make sulfates (mostly lithium sulfates, but also minor amount of sulfates of select impurities). The acid bake product is mixed with water in the concentrate leach process step, and then sent to a belt filter that separates the gangue mineral (a form of aluminumsilicate) from the Pregnant Leach Solution that contains the lithium sulfates and certain impurities. The Pregnant Leach Solution then undergoes three (3) purification and filtration steps: Primary Impurity Removal (“PIR”), Secondary Impurity Removal (“SIR”) and Tertiary Impurity Removal (“TIR”). The solution is polished in an Ion Exchange (“IX”) system that removes trace amounts of remaining calcium.

These three (3) purification steps and Ion Exchange remove many impurities including, excess acid, calcium, silicon, iron, aluminum, manganese and magnesium.

The IX polished solution is fed to the electrolyzers. During this process, lithium sulfate is converted to lithium hydroxide (catholyte solution) and sulfuric acid (anolyte solution). The anolyte solution is sent to Sulfuric Acid Concentration. The concentrated acid is recycled to the pug mixer along with fresh make-up acid. The catholyte from electrolysis is sent to the LHM Crystallization step. A double crystallization process produces pure LHM crystals and condensate that is also fully re-used in the process. A small bleed stream from the LHM crystallization is sent to a treatment unit where lithium is recovered and sodium and potassium are purged. The LHM crystals are dried to produce LHM crystals for sales. Up to 50 % of the LHM crystals can be converted to lithium carbonate in a dedicated circuit for sale as lithium carbonate final product.