First Phosphate, together with Développement économique 02 and the Regional Conference of the Prefects of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, announced it has signed a collaboration agreement with the Regional Economic Benefits Maximization Committee (CMAX) to benefit the region where the company's phosphate mine project is located.
"This collaboration agreement will generate mutual benefits for First Phosphate and for the economic community of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean Region of Quebec," said First Phosphate CEO John Passalacqua.
Under the agreement, First Phosphate said it will be able to connect directly to the region's entrepreneurial workforce to help the company to operate its projects in a broader context and without supplier challenges.
For CMAX, this agreement will facilitate positive economic impacts for construction companies, equipment manufacturers and their suppliers in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean Region of Quebec, First Phosphate noted.
"First Phosphate strongly appreciates the warm welcome shown by the population of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean Region towards the company's phosphate mine project and its value-added mineral processing plants,” Passalacqua said.
“First Phosphate firmly believes that its projects must be well-integrated into the local host community fabric and that it must do its utmost to ensure that the community benefits from the economic spin-offs. First Phosphate looks forward to integrating the region into the North American EV battery manufacturing industry.”
CMAX was established in the early 2000s by the Conférence régionale des élus (CRÉ) to ensure that regional businesses benefit as much as possible from the wealth created by the development of major projects in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean Region.
First Phosphate is a mineral development company fully dedicated to extracting and purifying phosphate for the production of cathode active material for the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery industry.
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