Anico Eagle Enters Igneous Phosphate Space

What is unique about Avenir Minerals’ investment is that the C$94.3 million outlay exceeds the original cash capital Agnico Eagle allocated to the Avenir subsidiary.  Namely, Agnico Eagle set up Avenir in October 2025 to manage early-stage critical mineral investments with an orignal $50 million cash outlay and $80 million in existing early-stage non-core critical mineral investments.

Deposits of igneous phosphate rock are exceedingly rare: only 4% of all global phosphate deposits are igneous carbonatite in nature.  Rarer still are igneous anorthosite phosphate deposits, such as the First Phosphate Bégin-Lamarche property, which constitutes the top 1% of all global phosphate deposits.

Igneous anorthosite phosphate contains very low deleterious elements and over 90% can be converted directly into battery-grade phosphoric acid.  This is key as LFP batteries now comprise about 80% of global battery production located mostly in China.  As energy storage, data centers and robotics drive up battery storage demand, onshoring LFP battery production in the West becomes a strategic priority linked to national security.

Agnico Eagle’s sizeable investment in the igneous phosphate space represents an affirmation of the long-term need for this battery grade phosphate material and should be considered validation for the entire sector.  Does this traditional gold miner see igneous phosphate rock as the new gold of the LFP battery-based energy transition?

Through a vertically integrated mine-to-market LFP battery supply chain strategy, First Phosphate plays a central role in achieving the shared goal of re-onshoring the LFP battery supply chain in North America.  First Phosphate has produced LFP battery cells using North American critical minerals including high purity phosphate from its Bégin-Lamarche property.