Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper and Rock Tech Lithium have jointly received the 2026 Northern Innovators Award for a project evaluating crude tall oil, a pulp industry by-product, as a flotation reagent for lithium processing.
The award was presented by Mining Life & Exploration News at the Cen-Can Expo Gala Dinner in Thunder Bay, according to Rock Tech’s September 9 announcement.
The project brings together the two companies and Queen’s University, with support from Ontario’s Critical Minerals Innovation Fund. It explores a potential link between the province’s forestry industry and its developing critical minerals supply chain.
A potential new use for a pulp by-product
The partners are assessing whether crude tall oil could provide a locally sourced reagent for lithium processing. Successful validation could create an additional application for an Ontario forestry by-product while offering a regional source of processing materials.
Rock Tech said the work could also inform future technical and economic optimization of its Georgia Lake Lithium Project. The announcement does not report validation results or confirm commercial use of the reagent.
Connecting forestry, mining and research
Rock Tech CEO Mirco Wojnarowicz said the partnership combines expertise from Northern Ontario’s forestry and critical minerals sectors with university research to address practical processing challenges.
The initiative forms part of Rock Tech’s broader plan to develop a lithium supply chain in Northern Ontario, connecting the Georgia Lake project with its proposed Red Rock Lithium Converter.
Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper is a producer of northern bleached softwood kraft pulp based in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Part of the Atlas Holdings portfolio, the company operates within Northern Ontario’s forest products sector and is exploring new applications for pulp manufacturing by-products through industrial and research partnerships.
