Quebec’s Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. (NMG) has signed a non-binding anode materials provide take care of Panasonic as electrical automobile provide chain buyers proceed to circle junior miners in Canada’s battery supplies sector.
The Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Que.-based graphite firm stated the memorandum of understanding inked with the battery cell maker Oct. 20 confirms Panasonic’s intentions to work towards a multi-year offtake settlement for a “significant portion” of NMG’s anode output.
Company CEO Eric Desaulniers stated the deal comes at a “pivotal time” as NMG advances growth of what could be North America’s largest built-in graphite anode manufacturing hub.
“It is set to provide NMG with a solid commercial foundation for deploying our Phase 2 commercial operations,” he stated in a launch.
NMG is creating a graphite mine in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, about 150 kilometres north of Montreal, in addition to a plant in Bécancour, Que. that may course of the graphite into anode lively materials, which is used for the damaging aspect of lithium-ion batteries. It plans to depend on all-electric mining tools and Quebec’s shops of hydropower to stay carbon impartial from graphite extraction by anode manufacturing.
Kazuo Tadanobu, CEO of Panasonic Energy, stated the strategic partnership will give the battery maker the power to ascertain an environmentally pleasant supply of anode materials because it builds out its North American provide chain.
The two events will work towards formalizing the provision deal within the coming months, NMG stated.
Meantime, the Quebec miner locked in US$50 million in funding from new and current buyers it’ll use to proceed growth on its Matawinie mine in Saint-Michel-des-Saints and its processing plant in Bécancour.
Japan’s Mitsui & Co. will make investments $25 million in NMG within the type of convertible notes, whereas current buyers Pallinghurst Group and provincially owned Investissement Quebec will every make investments an extra $12.5 million.
The tentative provide deal and contemporary funding for NMG comes as an rising variety of worldwide automakers and battery cell makers inch towards agency agreements to buy lithium, cobalt, nickel and different key supplies from Canadian miners.
In September, LG Energy Solution, which is constructing a brand new battery cell plant in Windsor, Ont. with companion Stellantis, signed three such agreements with Canadian battery supplies companies. Mercedes-Benz Group introduced it was working towards the same take care of Vancouver-based Rock Tech Lithium Inc. a number of weeks earlier.
Leveraging the added funding and new partnership, NMG stated it’ll focus the following a number of months on finalizing the design of its two Quebec services earlier than it makes a last funding resolution for the mission.
It estimates building of the mine and processing plant will price roughly $1.4 billion and take 28 months to finish.
Source: canada.autonews.com
