This week, Montreal-based Nouveau Monde Graphite signed a five-year agreement with Olin Corp., which will cover the commercial space for operations, site services and supply of certain raw materials to implement the company’s proprietary thermochemical purification operations. Nouveau Monde will construct two pilot commercial-scale purification furnaces within Olin’s existing facility in the Bécancour industrial park. The project is advanced with a CAPEX envelop nearing $C15 million. Plant commissioning is scheduled for mid-2021.
Nouveau Monde said its vertical integration strategy, from graphite ore to advanced battery material, offers a unique value proposition to battery makers. They will now have a reliable and secure source of low-cost, carbon-neutral value-added products, underpinned by clean and renewable energy. The company’s proprietary thermochemical technology leverages Québec’s cheap and abundant supply of hydroelectricity and provides a significant economic and environmental advantage, according to the company.
Following an initial optimization phase, the company expects to generate positive free operating cash flow from the production of purified advanced materials.
“After four years of technological development, modelling and lab tests with the best universities, engineering firms and international experts, we are enthusiastic at developing our first commercial-scale purification capacity with the support of one of the most respected chemical company in the world,” Nouveau Monde President and CEO Eric Desaulniers said. “We have found in Olin, a leading supplier driven by the same values of safety, innovation and environmental stewardship.”
Nouveau Monde has received C$7.6 million of non-refundable financial assistance from Canadian and Québec governments, which recognize the project’s potential and again demonstrates the attractiveness of operating in a Tier-1 jurisdiction such as Québec.
Nouveau Monde has secured a 200,000-m2 land adjacent to Olin’s property in the Bécancour industrial park. As the future site of the company’s commercial-scale transformation plant, it will produce a wide range of value-added graphite-based materials. Following completion of a feasibility study in 2021 for the commercial-scale operations, the company said it plans to launch permitting and construction as early as 2022. Nouveau Monde targets, with its modular approach, 40,000 metric-ton-per-year (mt/y) production of anode material for the initial phase, with the option to reach 100,000 mt/y of conversion capacity as demand increases in the battery and specialty markets.
The company said the commercial plant will be carbon-neutral and repurpose co-products from its operation, bringing to market a truly sustainable product.
