The companies signed a letter of intent at the end of 2020 and have now agreed a  license and royalty deal under which Altair will license St-Georges Metallurgy's patent-pending extraction methods and technology in separation, recovery, and purification of lithium and to act as an agent of St-Georges' developing technology in battery recycling.

St-Georges will grant Altair a non-exclusive license to use its lithium extraction technology for any of Altair's lithium-bearing prospects in the US, and Altair will grant St-Georges a 5% net revenue royalty on all metals and minerals extracted and processed using any of St-Georges methods or technologies.

In addition St-Georges will grant Altair full access to its electric vehicle battery recycling technology for the purpose of Altair acting as exclusive master agent.

"We believe that the lithium extraction and purification processes which St-Georges has developed have the potential to reshape the economics of the lithium mining sector, and we are incredibly excited to have partnered with them on this endeavor," Altair president Leonard Lovallo said in December.

"As the demand and marketplace for lithium continues to expand with the ever-increasing popularity of EV vehicles across the globe, the scope and applications of the technologies which we are partnering with St-Georges on will only increase."