First Phosphate Corp. has hailed the decision by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, acting through the director of the U.S. Geological Survey, to add “phosphate” to the United States’ Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals.
The United States now joins the countries of Canada and South Korea, the European Union and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec in recognising phosphate as a critical mineral.
The U.S. Secretary of the Interior indicated that the department made the determination to include phosphate on the Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals based on recommendations and expertise provided by the respective U.S. Departments of Energy, War, and Agriculture.
During the comment period provided by the USGS, First Phosphate submitted a full 15-page letter highlighting the critical defence and energy-related implications of phosphate, given the rapid emergence of lithium iron phosphate batteries for energy storage, data centres, robotics, mobility, and national security apparatus.
First Phosphate also reiterated the recent “Met” rating that it had received from the Defence Industrial Base Consortium for its White Paper on Securing North American Phosphate Supply for LFP Cathode Materials.
First Phosphate’s flagship Bégin-Lamarche Property in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, is one of North America’s rare igneous phosphate resources, yielding high-purity phosphate with minimal impurities for the production of cathode active material for LFP batteries.
First Phosphate has recently produced commercial-grade LFP 18650 battery cells using North American critical minerals.
The high-purity phosphoric acid and iron powder for these LFP 18650 battery cells were produced using rare igneous anorthosite rock extracted from the First Phosphate Bégin-Lamarche property.
