Court Approves Option to Acquire the Renard Mine Site

Li-FT Power Ltd. has obtained court approval for a binding call option agreement to acquire the Renard diamond mine and processing facility, or the entities owning them, from Stornoway Diamonds. The transaction grants LIFT a sole and exclusive two-year option to exercise the acquisition for a nominal C$1.00, with the option period ending on June 23, 2028.

LIFT has paid a C$12 million option fee held in trust, contingent on regulatory approval to postpone mine rehabilitation. If the release condition is not met by October 3, 2026, the fee is refunded and the option terminates. During the option period, LIFT is solely responsible for Care & Maintenance costs, which are estimated at C$18 million annually.

Upon exercise, LIFT assumes full responsibility for closure and remediation. The option period will be used to confirm the technical, economic, environmental, and social feasibility of repurposing Renard for lithium processing. The site features a fully covered 2.2 Mtpa processing facility, a 16 MW LNG-fired power station, tailings and water management infrastructure, a maintenance shop, a 330-bed camp, an airport, and all-season road access. Over $900 million has previously been invested at the site.

Li-FT Power Ltd. (LIFT) has secured court approval, removing a critical regulatory hurdle that allows the company to proceed with a feasibility study to repurpose Renard’s existing infrastructure for lithium processing. This development follows the announcement made on June 23, 2026, and aligns with management’s strategy to leverage brownfield infrastructure. The move is expected to significantly reduce upfront capital expenditure and project risk for the Adina Lithium Project, while potentially expediting the timeline to production by at least two years.

Financially, the C$12M fee has already been paid, and the C$18M annual C&M deposit will impact near-term cash flow. However, the long-term capital expenditure savings, derived from more than $600M CAD historically invested at Renard, are expected to outweigh these costs if the feasibility study succeeds.

Li-FT Power Ltd. (LIFT) is a Canadian lithium developer focused on hard-rock spodumene assets within Canada. The company’s flagship Adina-Galinee Lithium Project in Quebec is in the advanced exploration and early development stage, holding an NI 43-101 indicated resource of 60.5 Mt @ 1.14% Li2O and an inferred resource of 15.9 Mt @ 1.17% Li2O. The company is targeting a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) in late 2027 and first concentrate production in 2030.

In the Northwest Territories, the Yellowknife Lithium Project is in early exploration and development, with an inferred resource of 50.4 Mt @ 1.00% Li2O. A Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) is targeted for late 2026, and a downstream converter scoping study has been launched for 30ktpa of battery-grade lithium carbonate. Additionally, LIFT holds a binding call option to acquire and repurpose the 2.2 Mtpa processing plant at the Renard Mine Site in Quebec, a brownfield diamond mine currently on care and maintenance. This move aims to cut initial capital expenditure by more than $600M CAD and expedite production by approximately two years.

The company is led by CEO Francis MacDonald and Executive Chairman Anthony Tse, the former Managing Director and CEO of Galaxy Resources, who executed the $5B merger forming Allkem. The board includes veterans from the mining and capital markets sectors.