This week on the podcast we had a chance to catch up with Nano One, a Canadian listed battery materials company we have been following for over four years, and which has become somewhat of a poster boy for Canada’s green power ambitions.
On the podcast we have Nano One’s COO Alex Holmes, who was able to update us on the latest developments at the company, and in particular its plans to upgrade its manufacturing processes to commercial scale, rather than merely proof of concept. This has been a big step for the company, but is also reflected in the support it is getting from some big industrial players.
Commercial scale trials
Over the summer Nano One completed commercial scale trials of its patented LFP production One Pot technology and is in the process of shipping samples to customers for evaluation. This is a precursor to moving onto signing binding offtake agreements with a number of electric vehicle makers and, on the production side, expanding output to 2,000 tonnes by the end of 2024.
Big news from the company has only just been announced, and we go into this in some depth on the podcast. Nano One has just announced a key collaboration and investment deal with Sumitomo Metals Mining, which sees Sumitomo taking a 5% stake in Nano One, as well as working with Nano One to help the company commercialize its production of battery cathode materials lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and nickel-rich chemistries such as lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide.
Alex Holmes has spent more than 15 years as a senior executive with a number of public companies. Most recently, he served as the CEO of Plateau Energy Metals, a public company advancing a world-class hard rock lithium project in tandem with a uranium asset in Peru. Prior to this, he co-founded a technology start-up, leading it from prototype to commercialization in a short period of time, and was a partner and co-founder of Oxygen Capital Corp. where he led the business development for all affiliated companies.
