PROJECT POSITIVE
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BUSINESS PLAN
Project Positive+ is a business partnership between Positive Materials Inc., the Pabineau First Nation and the Ugpi’Ganjig First Nation.
The Project is an initiative to plan, design and build a large-scale, state-of-the-art precursor cathode active materials (pCAM) production facility in Belledune, New Brunswick, Canada. If and when it comes on-stream, currently targeted for late 2028, it is expected to strengthen the weakest link in the North American battery supply chain: pCAM.
BELLDUNE: AN IDEAL SITE
PROVEN TECHNOLOGY
pCAM AS A SERVICE
IMPECCABLE PROVENANCE
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Exceptional combination of mature infrastructure that favours efficient logistics.
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Year-round deep sea port.
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Mature infrastructure: rail, power, water and land.
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Ability to grow and achieve significant economies of scale.
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Atlantic Ocean / Coastal location.
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Long history of industrial activity in region.
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Enabling most competitive pCAM production costs in North America.
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Securing advanced technology, licensed from Kansai Catalyst Co. Ltd., an established and respected Japanese manufacturer that supplies high-quality pCAM to some of the leading battery and automotive supply chains.
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Eliminating technology risk by deploying existing, commercially proven pCAM technology and know-how.
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Focusing on leading edge cathode formulations: quality, performance, safety and cost effectiveness.
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Production of energy dense materials, matched to current and future customer requirements: safety, range and charging speed.
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The Project Positive+ business model involves processing battery raw materials purchased by our customers, converting these into pCAM and charging a fee for doing so. This is what is known as a “tolling” business model.
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Individually tailored customer product solutions – aligned with customers’ localized raw materials procurement strategy and evolving battery technology.
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A “tolling business model” lowers the barrier to entry for Positive Materials and limits our exposure to raw materials price volatility. It also enables stability of revenues and cash flow.
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Made-in-Canada solution for North American Market.
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Respectful and principled relationship, and business partnership with local First Nations.
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Strict compliance with rigorous Canadian regulations, and with its health, safety and environmental standards, provides customers assurance pCAM is sustainably produced.
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Supported by Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy, which focuses on sustainability and localization of reliable and resilient supply chains.
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Enables use of Canadian raw materials in value-added processing.
Project Positive+: “Scenario A” Preliminary Conceptual Site Layout 120,000tpa
THE PROJECT POSITIVE VISION
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Phased development of high-quality, sustainable pCAM. Production Complex:
Phase 1 target: 30,000 tpa by ~ 2028
Phase 2 target: 120,000 tpa by ~ 2032
Plant and process designed to replicate successful commercial pCAM operations in Japan, localized to meet stringent Canadian health, safety and environmental standards and regulations, and adapted to site conditions.
Targeting energy dense ternary pCAM products: NCM, NCA, & NCMA, including those used in high-voltage mid-nickel and lithium-rich manganese cathodes designed to satisfy evolving customer demands.
Cost-plus tolling business model – working in close collaboration with North American customers, and aligned with their raw materials procurement strategies.
Targeting energy dense ternary pCAM products: NCM, NCA, & NCMA, including those used in mid-nickel and lithium-rich manganese cathodes – designed to satisfy evolving customer demands.
We will deploy only mature, commercially proven technology, seeking to eliminate technological risk. We seek to deliver to our customers value, quality, reliability, impeccable provenance and a low carbon footprint.
Benefitting greatly from the selected site's mature and underutilized infrastructure, coastal location and marine logistics, low-carbon energy and economies of scale.
Seeking to integrate Project Positive+ well into the local environmental and social setting, turning into a valuable community asset and contributor.
PROJECT SCHEDULE
Subject to successful completion of project evaluation, planning and permitting, and receipt of a “social license”, Project Positive+ is expected to be developed in two stages.
While there is no certainty the project will proceed, because of the various approvals, commercial arrangements and project financing required, we are targeting mid-2026 for a final investment decision.
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Phase 1 (target: 30,000 tpa) by ~ 2028.
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Phase 2 (target: 120,000 tpa) by ~ 2032.
TARGET SCHEDULE
LOCATION MATTERS
Why Canada and Belledune, New Brunswick?
CANADA:
An Underutilized Gateway to Global EV and Lithium-Ion Battery Supply Chain
Canada is blessed with a rich endowment of critical minerals, essential to produce pCAM, and ultimately lithium-ion batteries. Today, it is virtually impossible for North American battery raw materials (critical minerals) to be converted into battery materials locally. They must be sent to Asia for processing. Canada and the USA need pCAM manufacturing to localize and onshore their battery supply chains.
Extremely high health, safety and environmental standards make Canada an attractive midstream manufacturing location, where high ESG standards can be achieved and relied on by customers. Impeccable provenance can be achieved here. Canada also has sophisticated industrial infrastructure, an educated workforce and supportive government policies that incentivize the localization of the entire battery value chain. Such a production facility can become a truly strategic asset for North America.
Canada has also established policies and programs to support its ambition to become a leading Lithium-ion battery and EV manufacturer, including:
Critical Minerals Strategy
Clean Energy Manufacturing Investment Tax Credits
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (free trade agreement)
For over six decades, Canada has had a thriving automotive ecosystem, with a well-established cross border supply chain partner.
NEW BRUNSWICK
Located on Canada’s Atlantic Coast, New Brunswick is a Canadian Province recognized for its innovative, talented workforce and world-leading expertise in advanced manufacturing.
The province has a range of thriving industries including Agri-tech, cybersecurity, digital health, energy innovation and information and communications technology.
Northern New Brunswick offers deep-water port access to Europe and North America’s eastern coast. With solid industrial infrastructure, including three class 1 rail lines, and competitive business costs, New Brunswick is an ideal location for global businesses.
BELLEDUNE
THE BELLEDUNE ADVANTAGE
Our team conducted an extensive site selection study along the east coast of the USA and Canada, and evaluated 37 potential sites, searching for a combination of key factors that would allow us to reach our goal of becoming the most competitive pCAM producer in North America, while meeting the highest standards of social and environmental sustainability. The Port of Belledune was our top pick. It met our key criteria, while enabling significant operating cost competitiveness opportunities, including:
Land: Suitability and availability
Coastal location: Deep water, year-round accessible port
Mature infrastructure: Established rail, road and highway links
Competitively priced, low-carbon footprint energy
High-tension power connectivity
Process water
Local, skilled industrial labour force
FIRST NATIONS
A core, values-based priority for Positive Materials was early engagement and collaboration with the two Mi’kmaq First Nations communities on whose ancestral territory Project Positive+ is located. In 2022, we approached the Ugpi’Ganjig First Nation (also known as the Eel River Bar First Nation) and the Oinpegitjoig L’Noeigati First Nation (also known as the Pabineau First Nation) as our first priority when we began investigating the possibility of establishing a new Canadian pCAM business.
We felt appreciated and welcomed from the start, and we were given invaluable assistance and input during our early evaluation work. We reciprocated by openly sharing our vision for this business and the results of our studies, and by carefully listening to what these communities want and don’t want to see from local economic development.
In August 2023, Positive Materials entered into a precedent-setting tripartite Cooperation Agreement with the two First Nation communities. The parties agreed to evaluate the feasibility of the project and to work together to ensure the project could achieve environmental, social, and economic excellence, in keeping with shared values and aspirations.
In a further step to solidify the relationships, in October 2024, the three parties entered into a Business Partnership Framework Agreement. The terms of this arrangement include a collective 10% non-dilutable participating stake in Project Positive+ to be shared by the First Nations. A comprehensive Impacts and Benefits Agreement is expected to follow.
We are grateful and honoured to be working closely with the Ugpi’Ganjig First Nation and Pabineau First Nation, as we advance the evaluation and planning phase of Project Positive+. Our goal is to arrive at a joint “go” or “no go” decision on its development by around mid-2026.
Left: Ugpi’Ganjig Chief, Jake Caplin, Positive CEO, Marco Romero, and Pabineau Chief, Terry Richardson, at the October 11, 2024, signing of the Business Partnership Framework Agreement.
PORT OF BELLEDUNE
The Port of Belledune location is particularly strategic, as it also makes possible the lowest delivered cost for reagents and raw materials and enables cost-effective logistics to access to global and U.S. markets. Belledune’s coastal location, with strong tides and currents, may also help to significantly reduce costs by enabling safe and sustainable release of non-toxic pCAM sodium sulphate brine (a key differentiator).
Targeted cost advantages include:
Energy / Electricity (per kWh): ~20% energy cost reduction
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Project Positive+: CAD$0.0845/kWh (~USD$0.059) vs. North American average: CAD$0.12 (Hydro Quebec study)
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Strategically, the New Brunswick electrical grid is ~79% carbon free today and should be close to 100% non-emitting by 2030. Carbon footprint matters to most customers.
Sodium Sulphate Disposal: ~25-30% overall cost reduction
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Number one operating cost in pCAM production, excluding cost of battery raw materials.
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Cost reduction is per tonne of pCAM produced using ocean brine disposal (subject to environmental permits) compared to crystallisation and land disposal, based on reduced energy requirements (electricity & steam demand).
Sodium Hydroxide: ~20-30% key reagent cost reduction
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Number two operating cost in pCAM production.
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Delivered cost reduction for maritime deliveries vs. overland rail.
LAND TENURE
Positive Materials pursued and evaluated several site options at the Port of Belledune and negotiated two lease options and one purchase option agreements, all subject to due diligence review.
On October 31st, 2024, Positive Materials secured rights to acquire a 101 hectare (250 acres) industrially zoned parcel that we call “Scenario A”. This site further enhances our “Belledune Advantage” as it is a large parcel of privately-owned land in a superior location, adjacent to road, rail, power and water infrastructure.
In November 2024, we completed legal, technical and environmental due diligence, as well as all required environmental baseline studies, on the Scenario A site (as well as the other sites under consideration as alternatives). The results confirmed that there are no fatal flaws on any of the sites. Scenario A, which is the most strategically located of these land packages, is now the home of Project Positive+.
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL & PERMITTING
All of the potential Belledune sites have been previously impacted by historical farming and industrial activity and are zoned for industrial use.
Baseline studies have been ongoing since April 2024. Field studies have been completed for vegetation, birds, terrestrial wildlife, wetlands, water quality, hydrology, fish and fish habitat, archaeology and heritage values.
Studies have been replicated at all potential site locations. No red flags that would prohibit or materially impact development at any of the sites have been identified.
A marine baseline program was completed in November 2024, informed by 3D dispersion modelling. The baseline program also included marine sediment sampling and underwater videography using underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROV).
Our goal is to submit the Environment and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) registration document around the end of Q2 2025. We are aiming for a ministerial decision under New Brunswick’s Environmental Impact Assessment Regulation in Q1 2026. Following this, we would expect to receive the necessary additional provincial and federal regulatory approvals in short order, as these are non-discretionary.
