Canadian companies Nouveau Monde Graphite (NMG) and Mason Graphite (MG) recently announced a strategic investment and joint venture agreement on MG’s Lac Gueret mine project.

The agreement has been entered into with the view to the joint development and operation of the Lac Gueret mine project located in Quebec, Canada. NMG is one of the larger graphite-focused companies in North America with an operational graphite flake concentrator plant in Quebec, in addition to its Matawinie open-pit mine which is in close proximity and currently under construction. The Matawinie mine has a completion date of 2023 and will form part of a vertically integrated graphite and battery anode production site, scheduled to deliver 42ktpy of anode material to market by 2025.

The joint venture agreement with MG would put NMG at the forefront of graphite production in North America once Lac Gueret becomes operational. The mine project currently has a production capacity of 52ktpy over a 25-year life of mine. China is currently the world’s largest producer of graphite, but the appetite is strong for ex-China material as Western OEMs and lithium-ion producers look to develop local, more sustainable supply chains.