Siemens Canada to build a digital twin of Rock Tech's Ontario lithium converter

Rock Tech Lithium has signed agreements with Siemens Canada, which will develop a digital process twin of the Red Rock Lithium Converter. Rock Tech plans to build the plant in Ontario with capacity for up to 32,000 tonnes a year of lithium carbonate equivalent.

According to Rock Tech, the twin will be a virtual model grounded in physics that simulates the plant's processes, energy flows and material streams. The goal is to check design choices, efficiency, emissions and operating reliability, and to optimize and validate them, before any major capital is committed.

Six months to settle design and controls

Work on the DFS started at the end of June 2026, and the study is expected to be finalized by mid-December 2026. DFS results form the basis of the first twin. The same study also covers Siemens' support in process control, instrumentation and automation architecture.

Siemens' support in process control, instrumentation and automation architecture is part of the ongoing DFS. That suggests the plant's control layer is being shaped at the study stage, before detailed engineering, which is exactly where Rock Tech says the twin goes next: engineering, then construction, then operations.

For automation integrators, instrument suppliers and engineering firms tracking Canadian midstream projects, that timing could matter. It suggests specification choices on Red Rock are being weighed during the study stage, ahead of a final investment decision.

One caution on those figures: Rock Tech states Guben's capacity in lithium hydroxide monohydrate and Red Rock's in carbonate equivalent, so the two numbers don't compare like for like.

Carrying Guben's design to Ontario

The partnership began on March 2, 2026, when Rock Tech and Siemens Canada signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding at the Canadian Critical Minerals Forum hosted by Natural Resources Canada during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Trade Show and Convention. Rock Tech's release from that day lays out the plan: Red Rock will be developed on the blueprint of the company's converter in Guben, Germany, which Rock Tech calls fully permitted and shovel-ready and which holds Strategic Project status under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act.

Rock Tech said then that transferring the Guben blueprint to Canada can shorten development timelines, minimize technical risks and increase capital efficiency, and that the engineering and permitting work completed in Guben materially reduces execution risk and supports a more efficient path toward a final investment decision in Canada. The release also states that Red Rock "will be Ontario's first lithium conversion facility."

Both companies want Red Rock to serve as a blueprint for future converters in Canada and allied markets, and they will evaluate applying the cooperation to projects in other G7 countries.

Feedstock and the reach of phase one

On supply, Rock Tech's Canadian feedstock sources include its wholly owned Georgia Lake Project.

The strongest check on the lifecycle vision is the paperwork itself. These agreements are the first implementation phase of a memorandum that was non-binding, and the other Siemens solutions, services and engineering support it names are still under evaluation; in March the parties also said they would explore funding to support deploying the twin. For now, the committed scope is the process twin and the DFS support, and the construction and operations stages remain a stated intention.