Nemaska Lithium Finalizes a 5-Year Supply Agreement With Northvolt

QUEBEC CITY, Aug. 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nemaska Lithium Inc. (“Nemaska Lithium” or the “Corporation”) (TSX:NMX) (OTC:NMKEF) and Northvolt AB ("Northvolt") are pleased to announce the signature of an agreement providing for the supply of battery grade lithium hydroxide by the Corporation to Northvolt.

On April 27, 2018 Nemaska Lithium announced an agreement in principle with Northvolt. This agreement is now superseded by a definitive 5-year supply agreement. Under this agreement, Nemaska Lithium agrees to supply, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Nemaska Lithium Shawinigan Transformation Inc., and Northvolt agrees to purchase, on a take-or-pay basis, up to 5,000 but not less than 3,500 metric tonnes per year of lithium hydroxide produced at the Corporation's commercial plant in Shawinigan, for a 5-year supply period commencing upon the start of commercial production at both the Shawinigan Plant and Northvolt's projected Skellefteå factory in Sweden (the "N Factory"). Under this agreement, Northvolt has agreed to deliver to the Corporation a EUR 10M promissory note (please see April 27, 2018 press release).

"We are very pleased to have moved this agreement in principle to a firm contract. Northvolt is not the only one to share our vision of a green energy future powered by lithium ion batteries. Our ongoing discussions with buyers reflect a very tight market for high purity lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate. We continue to field inbound calls looking for supply of battery grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate. However, with approximately 90% of its future annual production capacity already committed, Nemaska Lithium is currently more focused on properly executing the construction and upcoming commissioning of its project to satisfy its existing clients,” said Guy Bourassa, President & Chief Executive Officer of Nemaska Lithium.

Bourassa continued, “As we continue full speed ahead with the construction, we believe the value in Nemaska Lithium is supported by its strong fundamentals, including: a world class lithium deposit; a proprietary state of the art electrochemical lithium extraction process and strong off take agreements with reliable end users. We have attracted many talented people with past project construction and operations experience and we continue to build on that team. From an intrinsic value perspective, Nemaska Lithium has never been in a better shape and going forward, we strongly believe these strong fundamentals will eventually be properly reflected.”