Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc., Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Canada, has announced that it has closed the financing transactions with Pallinghurst Graphite Limited, London, England, which were approved at the annual general and special meeting held on Thursday (the “Meeting”). The financing transactions totaling C$20 million will fund the next phase of NMG’s development, focused on lithium-ion battery material.
The electric vehicle and stationary energy storage revolution continues to gain momentum globally – and graphite is a critical input material for these technologies. With its high-purity product and planned carbon-neutral operations thanks to Québec’s hydropower, Nouveau Monde is exceptionally well-positioned to be the western world’s green and sustainable preferred supplier.
Upon closing the transactions, Nouveau Monde has significantly strengthened its balance sheet, having issued a C$15 million secured convertible bond to Pallinghurst (the “Bond Transaction”) and sold a net smelter return royalty on the Matawinie graphite project to Pallinghurst in exchange for the cancellation of the existing approximately C$5 million debt facility (the “Royalty Transaction” and together with the Bond Transaction, the “Transactions”). With growing interest in the battery materials sector and the recent milestones reached in Nouveau Monde’s projects, the Meeting experienced record shareholder participation since the foundation of NMG, nearing 55% of common shares voted. The Company received extremely strong shareholder support for the Transactions and the creation of a new control person, being Pallinghurst, with approximately 98% of the votes cast in favour.
Eric Desaulniers, President and Chief Executive Officer commented: “Significant support from our shareholders coupled with long-term commitment from Pallinghurst to bring our projects to market strengthen our position as we embark on the next phase of our development. The COVID headwinds have not halted the exponential growth in lithium-ion battery demand and we are in an ideal position to cater to the markets with our low carbon-footprint graphite materials.”
Arne H. Frandsen, Co-founder of Pallinghurst and Director of Nouveau Monde added: “The electric vehicle and clean energy revolution is gaining momentum globally. The winners will be the companies with the lowest-cost, highest-purity products that can be produced in a responsible and environmentally friendly manner, such as Nouveau Monde. Through this investment, we have reinforced our commitment to Nouveau Monde and more broadly to Québec, as a world-class destination for battery materials. Pallinghurst looks forward to being a catalyst for the development of Nouveau Monde, as a cornerstone for Québec’s broader battery hub strategy.”
About Nouveau Monde Graphite
Nouveau Monde Graphite is developing the Matawinie graphite mining project, located in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, 150 km north of Montréal, QC. NMG’s Feasibility Study revealed strong economics with projected graphite concentrate production of 100,000 tonnes per year, with an average concentrate purity of 97%, with a long life of mine.
Nouveau Monde operates a demonstration plant where it produces concentrated micronised and spheronised flake graphite, which is being sent to potential North American and international clients for the qualification of its products, with the development of a purification demonstration plant also underway.
Nouveau Monde is planning a vertically-integrated, large-scale graphite transformation facility, catering to the needs of the accelerating electric vehicle and lithium-ion battery industry. Dedicated to high standards of sustainability, the Matawinie graphite project will be the first of its kind to operate an all-electric, low-carbon open-pit mine, using Québec’s abundance of hydropower.