Name of the Project
Matawinie – Phase 2 graphite project and Bécancour – Phase 2 battery material plant.

Location
Quebec, Canada.

Project Owner/s
Canadian graphite developer  Nouveau Monde Graphite (NMG).

Project Description
The project involves the development of a turnkey natural graphite operation.

The Matawinie mine will have a nominal processing rate of 2.55-million tonnes and will use the West Zone deposit with an average production of 103 328 t/y of high-purity graphite concentrate over the life-of-mine (LoM).

The deposit will be mined using conventional openpit mining methods comprising drilling, blasting, loading and hauling.

A concentrator will be built adjacent to the pit. Through crushing, milling, flotation, cleaning and drying, the ore is concentrated to attain 97% graphitic carbon and classified per flake size.

The project will have an LoM of 25 years.

The Bécancour plant will receive about 63 775 t/y of graphite concentrate – to be transformed into about 42 616 t of coated spherical purified graphite, 3 007 t of purified jumbo flakes and 18 384 t of by-product fines – from the Matawinie mine.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The Matawinie project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of C$986-million and an internal rate of return of 28.2%, with a payback of 3.2 years. The Bécancour project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of C$1.37-million and an internal rate of return of 22.8%, with a payback of 4.3 years.

The projects will have a collective net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of C$2.36-billion and an internal rate of return of 24.6%, with a payback of 3.9 years.

Capital Expenditure
C$1.40-billion – Matawinie is estimated at C$481-million and Bécancour at C$923-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Nouveau Monde has announced a $22-million capital raise to bring the development of its Matawinie mine project and the Bécancour battery material plant project to a final investment decision.

The company has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters, led by BMO Capital Markets and Cormark Securities, pursuant to which they have agreed to buy on a bought-deal basis 4 850 000 common shares at $4.55 a share.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
NMG VP communications and ESG strategy, Julie Paquet, tel +1 450 757 8905 or email jpaquet@nmg.com.
NMG director, investor relations, Marc Jasmin, tel +1 450 757 8905 or email mjasmin@nmg.com.