Federal ministers tour what could be Ontario's first lithium processing plant in Thunder Bay

Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. purchased the industrial property earlier this year and plans to transform the former Abitibi pulp and paper mill site into Ontario's first lithium processing facility.

Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. purchased the industrial property earlier this year and plans to transform the former Abitibi pulp and paper mill site into Ontario's first lithium processing facility. The plant will process minerals, mined roughly 500 kilometres west, near Kenora, Ont., for use in electric vehicle batteries.

Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne came for a site tour Thursday, and called the site "one of the most promising I've ever seen in terms of the possibilities."

Rather than having to develop a brand-new industrial property, or a greenfield, repurposing the brownfield property is more efficient because there's already a deep-sea port and railway line that can be used to bring products to market, Champagne explained.

"Here you have the opportunity to be close to all the markets – the Windsor, Detroit corridor – and at the same time you have a site here which [has] already been in operation for decades," he said.