Baie-Comeau is in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, approximately 420km northeast of Quebec City.

In April, the company signed a binding term sheet for a long-term lease with an option to buy the targeted plant. It included a long-form engineering and technical services agreement with the option to acquire the engineering firm, Roberge Industries.

St-Georges will design the battery recycling plant to be modular and preassembled to reduce construction and installation costs, timelines and other challenges. It aims to have a universal battery recycling plant that can use the procedures for process, safety and maintenance anywhere in the world, including maintenance management systems. The technology is planned to allow real-time auditing and the generation of tradeable carbon credits as well as machine learning management systems, allowing real-time optimisation of the process as well as the output based on market needs.

The company stated that early design and engineering reviews of the industrial plant being secured have not identified the need for a major overhaul. The company will have 45 days following the reception of its final feasibility study report to decide to enter into a lease agreement for the building. The company will be charged a pro-rotated rate for the lease established by the parties. The option to acquire the land and building has already been priced.

This agreement allows the company to save a significant amount of time that the permitting and construction of a new plant would have taken, and should have a considerable impact on the final capex costs of the project.

In December 2020, St-Georges signed a development and licencing deal with Altair International Corp to jointly develop a patentable electric vehicle battery recycling industrial process; the companies confirmed the deal in February.