Tesla Committed $4.3 Billion to LFP Batteries - This Nasdaq Company Will Be Needed…

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Everyone watching the battery buildout has been watching lithium.

They've been watching the wrong element.

In March 2026, Reuters confirmed that Tesla locked in roughly US$4.3 billion of lithium iron phosphate battery cells from LG Energy Solution. 

The cells get built in Michigan starting in 2027. Most are headed into Megapack 3, Tesla's stationary storage platform.

And according to the International Energy Agency, LFP already accounted for more than 90% of the grid storage market in 2025.for more than half the global EV battery market.

So here's the question almost nobody is asking.

Lithium is about 4% of that cathode powder by mass.

Phosphate is about 61%.

There are hundreds of listed lithium companies competing for American investor attention. 

Pure-play developers of battery-grade phosphate? 

You can count them on one hand.

One of them started trading on Nasdaq this week under the ticker symbol PHOS.

The Part That Should Worry Washington and Why NASDAQ: PHOS is needed

North America is building cell factories at a furious pace. It is not building the material that goes into them.

The International Energy Agency's own supply-chain mapping acknowledges that more than 98% of global LFP cathode material and cell production is in China.

That is not a rounding error. That is a battery plant in Michigan with a supply line running through a single foreign chokepoint. You can build the port; if there's no access road, nothing moves.

Battery-grade phosphate is not fertilizer rock. It needs consistent purity, low deleterious elements, and a traceable chain of custody. Most of the world's phosphate is sedimentary and doesn't qualify without heavy processing. Igneous phosphate does — and there is very little of it in North America.

The Bégin-Lamarche deposit behind NASDAQ: PHOS sits in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Québec, inside the Lac-Saint-Jean anorthosite suite — the largest phosphate-mineralized anorthosite body on the planet. Apatite is on the critical minerals lists of Québec, Canada, the United States, and the European Union.

It's 50 road kilometres from the city of Saguenay, on paved provincial highway, next to existing hydroelectric transmission, roughly 85 km from the year-round deep-water Port of Saguenay.

Two of Only Thirteen

At the 52nd G7 Summit in Évian, France on June 17, 2026, thirteen critical minerals partnerships were presented under the Critical Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance — the framework launched at the prior year's G7 in Kananaskis to pull critical mineral supply chains back inside allied borders.

First Phosphate (PHOS) is on that list of thirteen twice: the Bégin-Lamarche mine, and the planned phosphoric acid plant at Port Saguenay.

Binding, already signed:

• Definitive offtake agreement for a minimum of 200,000 tonnes per annum of phosphate concentrate from Bégin-Lamarche (signed January 5, 2026), against which the company received a prepayment of approximately US$523,000
• Definitive offtake agreement for a minimum of 60,000 tonnes per annum of phosphoric acid from the planned Port Saguenay plant (signed December 16, 2024)

Letters of interest — non-binding, subject to due diligence and definitive documentation:

• Up to C$275 million guarantee from the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) toward mine development
• Support from Italian export credit agency SACE, development bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, and SIMEST toward the acid plant, alongside cooperation with Italian technology group MAIRE and its subsidiary Ballestra

An LOI is not money in the bank. It is an export credit agency putting its name on a project in writing, which is a different thing from a press release — but it is not financing until it is financing.

Full detail on the G7 agreements is in the corporate deck at firstphosphate.com.

They Already Built the Battery

Most development-stage mining companies ask you to imagine the end product.

In 2025, First Phosphate reported production of standard commercial 18650 LFP battery cells built entirely from North American critical minerals — phosphate and iron from Bégin-Lamarche, lithium from Century Lithium in Nevada, graphite from Nouveau Monde Graphite in Québec, iron powder processed at GKN Hoeganaes in Tennessee, cells assembled by Ultion Technologies.

Rock out of a Québec pit to a working cell, at demonstration scale and which passed full commercial testing —it closes a technical question most projects leave open for another five years.

The Numbers Behind PHOS

Purity. Test work produced concentrates grading 40.4%, with low concentrations of critical impurities against a next-highest global igneous comparative around 36.9% and a global average nearer 25–30%.  Downstream test work converted concentrate to battery-grade phosphoric acid at a 91.1% conversion rate.

Scale. The updated Mineral Resource Estimate (effective May 1, 2026, prepared by Antoine Yassa, P.Geo. of P&E Mining Consultants Inc., an Independent Qualified Person under NI 43-101):

• Measured: 6.2 Mt @ 7.70% P₂O₅
• Indicated: 198.5 Mt @ 6.00% P₂O₅
• Inferred: 89.5 Mt @ 6.16% P₂O₅

That Indicated figure is up 378% from the September 2024 estimate, on 276 drill holes totalling 68,345 metres. The deposit remains open at depth. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Inferred Mineral Resources carry lower confidence than Indicated and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve.

Economics. The December 2024 Preliminary Economic Assessment models a 23-year open pit at a 1.5:1 strip ratio, averaging 900,000 tonnes per year of concentrate at 40% P₂O₅. After-tax NPV of C$1.59 billion at an 8% discount rate, after-tax IRR of 33.0%, 2.9-year payback, initial capex of C$675 million including a 20% contingency. Pre-tax NPV C$2.1 billion, IRR 37.1%. The PEA is preliminary in nature, includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are too geologically speculative to be classified as Mineral Reserves, and there is no certainty its results will be realized. The May 2026 resource update has not been incorporated into a revised economic assessment.

Balance sheet. Approximately C$33 million in cash following the July 10, 2026 closing of an oversubscribed private placement, plus a C$16.7 million non-repayable contribution from the Government of Canada's Global Partnerships Initiative plus another recent non-repayable contribution of $4.8 million from the Government of Canada for road infrastructure and electrical line  — available for contractually eligible technical work through 2028, and not equivalent to freely available cash. Management reports the feasibility study and permitting as funded, targeting study completion by end of 2026 or early 2027.

Alignment. CEO John Passalacqua has invested roughly C$1.8 million of his own capital at market prices. Management and the board hold approximately 20% of the company and have invested more than C$4 million collectively, with compensation weighted toward share units rather than cash. The company reports no long-term financial debt.

Full financials, resource tables and project schedule are in the First Phosphate corporate presentation.

The Setup

Tesla is buying LFP cells by the billions. Ford is building LFP lines in Michigan. Grid storage is over 90% LFP. And 98% of the cathode material that feeds all of it comes from one country that isn't this one.

Sixty-one percent of that cathode is phosphate.

A G7 alliance picked thirteen projects to fix the problem. One company is in that list twice.

As of this morning, American investors can find it on the Nasdaq Global Market under NASDAQ: PHOS — one ADR, ten common shares, one ticker.

Do the reading first: firstphosphate.com · Investor Deck (PDF)

Mining development carries substantial risk. Permitting, financing, construction, and commodity prices can all move against a pre-production company, and many never reach production at all. Read First Phosphate's continuous disclosure on SEDAR+ and EDGAR, including full risk factors, before making any investment decision.

What Went Live This Week

Effective at the open on August 10, 2026, First Phosphate Corp.'s American Depositary Receipts began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol PHOS (NASDAQ: PHOS) - CUSIP: 33611D301 · ISIN: US33611D3017

Company website: firstphosphate.com Corporate presentation deck: First Phosphate Investor Deck (PDF)

DISCLOSURE

PAID ADVERTISEMENT. This is a paid advertisement and not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Barchart has not reviewed, approved, or endorsed the content.

No Affiliation. First Phosphate Corp. has no commercial relationship, affiliation, partnership, supply agreement, or endorsement arrangement with Tesla, Inc., Ford Motor Company, LG Energy Solution, CATL, Agnico Eagle Mines, or any of their officers, directors, or affiliates. References to these companies are included solely as publicly reported market context regarding demand for lithium iron phosphate battery chemistry and do not imply any current or prospective business relationship with First Phosphate Corp. Neither Elon Musk nor Tesla, Inc. has endorsed, reviewed, or is associated with First Phosphate Corp. or this communication.

SEC Section 17(b) Disclosure: This communication was produced and distributed by Connect 4 Marketing ("Connect 4"), which has been compensated by First Phosphate Corp. for the creation and dissemination of promotional materials. Connect 4 has received total compensation of [US$X] and [C$X] from First Phosphate Corp. covering a six-month campaign period from [START DATE] to [END DATE]. Connect 4 and its principals [do / do not] hold a position in the securities of First Phosphate Corp. Barchart was paid [$X] for placement and promotion of the content on this site and other forms of public distribution covering the period of [DATES].

Canadian Securities Administrators Disclosure (CSA Staff Notices 51-356 and 51-330): First Phosphate Corp. is a reporting issuer in Canada. This material constitutes promotional activity conducted for consideration. The issuer has paid for the preparation and distribution of this communication. Readers should not rely on this material in isolation and should review the issuer's continuous disclosure record, filed under its profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Forward-Looking Statements: This communication contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. securities laws, including statements regarding project development, financing, offtake performance, production timelines, feasibility study completion and market demand. Letters of interest are non-binding and may not result in definitive agreements or funding. The offtake prepayment is repayable if no feasibility study is submitted or a negative production decision is taken. Demonstration-scale battery cell production does not imply assured series production or future offtake. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. There is no guarantee of performance. Past performance does not predict future results. All investments involve risk, including total loss of principal.

ADR Disclosure: One First Phosphate American Depositary Receipt represents ten (10) First Phosphate common shares. ADR holders do not hold the underlying common shares directly and hold no direct rights against the issuer in respect of those shares; rights are exercised through the depositary bank in accordance with the deposit agreement. ADR value is affected by movements in the CAD/USD exchange rate and by customary depositary service fees, which may be deducted from distributions or charged periodically. The described relationship between the ADR and the underlying common shares is a structural description of the ADR program and is not a price target, valuation, or projection of the trading price of any security.

Technical Disclosure: Mineral resource figures are stated in accordance with NI 43-101 and drawn from the Company's disclosure dated May 26, 2026 (MRE effective May 1, 2026) and its Preliminary Economic Assessment technical report dated December 4, 2024. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

Listing Disclosure: The uplisting of First Phosphate's American Depositary Receipts to the Nasdaq Global Market does not constitute a new offering of securities. No additional shares are being issued and no capital is being raised in connection with the uplisting.

Third-Party Links: Links to firstphosphate.com and the First Phosphate corporate presentation direct to issuer-controlled materials. Those materials are prepared by the issuer, are promotional in nature, and have not been independently verified by Connect 4 Marketing or Barchart.

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