Tesla And Quebec Government In Talks Over Multi-Billion Battery Production Deal
Tesla is reportedly in negotiations with the government of Québec about investing in battery production. The province is home to several resources necessary for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries, including nickel, graphite, and cobalt. With the advent of electric vehicles, the province is betting on that growth to boost its mineral extraction efforts.
The local government has made a proposal to invest between $2 to $3 billion (approximately $1.6 and $2.4 billion USD) in mining, from the extraction of those metals all the way to battery cell production. It is seeking for private partners to develop the industry, and Tesla is one of them.
The official met with Tesla executives in California last month, according to a representative for Pierre Fitzgibbon, Québec’s economy minister.
Fitzgibbon’s press manager, Mathieu St-Amand said (translated from French):
“The minister met with Tesla executives during a mission in California last month. They discussed Quebec’s place in Tesla’s supply chain.”
According to a ‘government source’, talks have been progressing in recent months, according to the Le Journal de Montréal.
Tesla’s partnership with Piedmont Lithium, which will purchase lithium from Sayonna Mining, a company behind a lithium project in Quebec’s Abitibi region, has already indirectly invested in the province’s lithium resources.
