The U.S. Department of Defense has issued funds to two Canadian companies – Fortune Minerals Limited and Lomiko Metals – to help build resilience in the cobalt and graphite supply chains.
Funded activities will align with the U.S.-Canadian Joint Action Plan on Critical Minerals and advance the 2024 National Defense Industrial Strategy while growing support for the domestic production of critical materials, the DOD said Thursday.
Laura Taylor-Kale, assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy, said these awards “exemplify the critical importance” of Defense Production Act funds, the partnership between the U.S. and Canada and “our shared commitment to strengthening North American material supply chains.”
Fortune received $6.5 million from the DOD as well as $5.6 million from the Canadian government to boost its cobalt sulfate and bismuth metal production capabilities. The awards will finance a feasibility study and enable the company to obtain the permits and authorizations necessary to bring its NICO mineral production project to a construction decision.
Lomiko was granted $8.4 million under the DPA. With those allocations as well as $3.6 million from the Canadian government, the enterprise will progress its La Loutre natural flake graphite project by conducting a pre-feasibility study, carrying out spherical graphite battery testing and value-added studies and performing a definitive feasibility study.
The completion of these tasks will enhance project design and build a technical foundation for the company to achieve a construction decision for a battery-grade graphite anode facility.
In total, the DPA has issued 15 awards valued at a combined total of $336 million in fiscal year 2024.