Northern Graphite's star shone brightly in 2022

Northern Graphite Corporation's 2022 milestones are the acquisition of the Lac des Iles graphite mine in Quebec and the Okanjande graphite deposit/Okorusu processing plant in Namibia from subsidiaries of Imerys Group for approximately US$40m.

This deal meant that Northern Graphite acquired 40-50 000 tons of graphite production capacity per year in Quebec and Namibia, making it the third largest Non-Chinese natural graphite-producing company worldwide.

The Okanjande deposit has large measured and indicated resources, and the Company intends to assess building a new processing plant with 100-150,000 tons per year of production capacity.

The Okanjande/Okorusu graphite project was in production from August 2017 until October 2018, when previous owners placed it on care and maintenance due to start-up issues with the processing plant, which did not meet design specifications. 

17 January 2022:  

Northern Graphite Corporation said a syndicate of agents led by Sprott Capital Partners LP, including Cormark Securities Inc., Canaccord Genuity Corp., and Tamesis Partners LLP, would sell up to 26,750,000 subscription receipts at C$0.75 per subscription receipt to raise approximately C$20 million. 

The proceeds would be used to acquire the Lac des Iles graphite mine in Quebec and the Okanjande graphite deposit/Okorusu processing plant in Namibia from subsidiaries of Imerys Group for approximately US$40m. 

26 January 2022 

Northern Graphite common shares trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture Exchange resumed following a halt when the company announced plans to acquire the Lac des Iles graphite mine in Quebec and the Okanjande graphite deposit/Okorusu processing plant in Namibia from subsidiaries of Imerys Group.

31 January 2022 

Northern Graphite Corporation retained Hugues Jacquemin to act as a Special Advisor to the Board on matters relating to the development of the Bissett Creek graphite project, management and operation of assets being acquired from subsidiaries of Imerys Group, and the evaluation of opportunities to expand the business through acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic partnerships. 

10 February 2022

Northern Graphite Corporation completed an initial closing of the private placement to acquire the Lac des Iles graphite mine in Quebec and the Okanjande graphite deposit/Okorusu processing plant in Namibia from subsidiaries of Imerys Group for approximately US$40m.

Under the initial closing of the private placement, Northern Graphite issued 25,762,500 subscription receipts at US$0.75 each for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $19.3 million.

2 May 2022

Northern Graphite Corporation closed the deal to acquire the Lac des Iles graphite mine in Quebec from a subsidiary of Imerys SA and the Okanjande graphite deposit/Okorusu processing plant in Namibia from a subsidiary of Imerys and its joint venture partner.

 The company financed the acquisition from the US$36m in debt, royalty and stream financing provided by funds managed by Sprott Resource Streaming and Royalty Corp. and a C$23m equity offering led by Sprott Capital Partners LP. 

Sprott invested C$3.75m in the equity offering, and Imerys received US$4m in equity, on the same terms as the equity offering, as partial payment of the purchase price.

Northern Graphite chief executive officer Gregory Bowes said the company would benefit from the growth in electric vehicle sales and recent announcements by governments in the US, Canada and Europe regarding plans to support critical mineral development and processing.

 

8 June 2022

Hugues Jacquemin was appointed chief executive officer, while the former CEO Greg Bowes was appointed executive chairman.

Jacquemin served as chief executive officer of the Graphite and Carbon Division of Imerys SA and spearheaded its investment program for Li-ion battery materials for EV markets. 

11 July 2022

Northern Graphite Corporation completed the preliminary economic assessment for the restart of its Okanjande/Okorusu graphite operation in Namibia. 

The report concluded that Northern Graphite could bring the project back into production by mid-2023 at an average production level of almost 31,000 tons per annum of graphite concentrate with a C1 production cost of US$775/tonne. 

The capital required to initiate production was US$15,1m, including installing a new, two-stage grinding circuit, additional regrind equipment in the flotation plant, and a new tailings storage facility.

The Okanjande deposit hosts a hard rock resource of 24,2 million tons of ore with 1,287 million tons of contained graphite in the measured and indicated categories and 7,2 million tons of ore with 359,000 tons of contained graphite in the inferred category. 

24 August 2022

Northern Graphite Corporation filed a technical report relating to the preliminary economic assessment of the Okanjande/Okorusu graphite project. The technical report, entitled "Okanjande Graphite Project - Preliminary Economic Assessment Study Report", effective 1 July 2022, was prepared by CREO Engineering Solutions (Namibia) with contributions from Knight Piesold Consulting (Namibia) and MSA Group (South Africa).

• The PEA concludes that Okanjande/Okorusu can be back in operation by mid-2023.
• The average production will be 31,000 tonnes per annum of graphite concentrate.
• C1 (direct) production costs of US$775 per tonne
• Post Tax IRR of 62%
• Post Tax NPV of US$65M and a payback of under two years based on a 10-year mine life and a weighted average graphite price of US$1,500/tonne
• Average carbon content overall size fractions of 96%
• The Okanjande resource presents the opportunity to build a sizeable new processing plant at the mine site with the capability of producing 100,000-150,000tpy of graphite concentrate.
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20 October 2022

Northern Graphite Corporation appointed Sam Januarie as vice president of human resources and Serge Thébergethe vice president for projects.

Januarie had worked for Imerys Graphite & Carbon as the Global Human Resources Manager, Learning and Development, and the Human Resources Director for Imerys Refractories in South Africa. 

He was also Dundee Precious Metals' senior human resources manager and support services manager with Trigon Metals. 

Théberge worked for SNC Lavalin, Bechtel, IAMGOLD, CBG (Compagnie de Bauxite de Guinée), Guyana Goldfields, and Lundin Gold as site manager for the Fruta Del Norte Project. 

9 November 2022

Northern Graphite Corporation, the Lac des Iles produced 53 263 tons of graphite ore milled at an average feed grade of 6.4% in the third quarter of 2022. 

The recovery was 89.3% resulting in concentrate production of 3,068 tonnes with an average grade of 96.9% and a flake size distribution of 13.5% +50 mesh, 22.3% -50 by +80 mesh, 20.5% -80 by +150 mesh and 43.7% -150 mesh. 

The company said a significant drop in the strip ratio to 4.4:1 resulted in reduced mining and hauling costs per ton of ore mined. 

The highlights of Northern Graphite's operations in Namibia included the successful re-commissioning of the existing programmable logic controller system within the plant and the introduction of water through much of the flotation circuit. 

The company also said work started replacing piping around the flotation section, and a redundant ball mill was removed to make way for a new scrubber due on site early in 2023. All long-lead equipment items had been ordered, and detailed engineering for the new grinding circuit was well-advanced. 

30 November 2022

 Northern Graphite Corporation released its interim financial statements report that showed that the Lac des Iles Mine produced 3,068 tonnes of graphite concentrate. 

The company said operations in Namibia had been pushed back due to Covid-related delays in the shipment of new grinding mills from China. 

However, Northern Graphite said the delays presented the opportunity to evaluate a potentially more sustainable and economically attractive development scenario for the Namibian operation. 

Northern Graphite said the development would involve installing the new mills in a plant built at the Okanjande mine. Although the delay might require additional capital, the company explained, it would eliminate transportation costs and produce much better project economics. 

According to the company, the delay would represent phase 1 of an ultimate plan to build 100,000-150,000 tonnes per annum of graphite production capacity adjacent to the Okanjande deposit to meet rapidly growing EV and battery demand.

21 December 2022

Northern Graphite Corporation entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent with Graphex Technologies LLC, the U.S. subsidiary of Graphex Group Limited.

The Graphex Group is a global leader in producing the anode material used in electric vehicles (EV)/lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries.

The intention is to combine Northern Graphite’s raw material supply capabilities with Graphex’s downstream processing expertise to build plants that will provide an end-to-end Northern American supply chain from the graphite mine to the battery.

Northern Graphite will provide graphite concentrate, and Graphex will license and/or contribute all the technology, plans and expertise for building and operating the plant(s). 

Graphex has already secured and is developing a site in Warren, Michigan, designed to produce 15,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of battery anode material. 

Northern Graphite is evaluating sites in Canada that could accommodate the production of up to 200,000 tpa of anode material. 

Jacquemin said collaborating with an existing anode material producer with established technology and expertise will enable Northern Graphite to leapfrog the product development stage and shorten the product qualification period and our time to market.