NextSource Materials signs LoI for a battery anode plant
NextSource Materials Inc. announced that it has executed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with its Japanese offtake partner and a leading Chinese processor of graphite anode material to collaborate on the construction of a value-add, battery anode plant in a jurisdiction that is proximal to the Company’s Molo graphite project in Madagascar.
As previously announced to the market on October 16, 2018, the company signed a ten year Offtake Agreement with a prominent Japanese Trading Company to purchase 20,000 tonnes per annum of Molo SuperFlake graphite for use in battery anode applications for electric and hybrid vehicles.
NextSource’s Japanese partner is a major supplier of spheronised and purified graphite (SPG) for anode material in lithium-ion batteries (LiB) for electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid vehicle (HEV) applications. Its EV and HEV automotive anode customers are global and currently supply graphite anode material to the majority of Japanese automotive OEMs.
Since 2018, NextSource and its Japanese partner have been in discussions regarding potential supply chain collaboration to supply value-added graphite material using SuperFlake graphite concentrate.
The Chinese partner is one of the top processors of spheronised and purified graphite (SPG) for the EV and HEV markets and has verified that NextSource’s SuperFlake graphite concentrate meets or exceeds all quality requirements for SPG material for EV and HEV automotive applications.
Its EV and HEV anode customers are global, including the North American market and its interest in the partnership with NextSource and the its Japanese partner is to have an additional SPG facility located outside of China and close to a high-quality mine source of flake graphite to supply international automotive OEM customers.
The LoI is for the purpose of collaborating on the construction and operation of a SPG facility to be located in a jurisdiction proximal to the company’s Molo graphite project in Madagascar and strategically located to key demand markets for graphite anode material.
Craig Scherba P. Geo, President and CEO, said, “The execution of this LoI is part of NextSource’s downstream growth plan and brings together one of the best global processors of graphite anode material and one of the most prominent suppliers of graphite anode material to automotive OEMs globally. This Letter of Intent to partnership on a SPG plant with such established partners positions NextSource to be a significant and dominant future supplier of high-quality flake graphite to major battery anode customers globally and simultaneously gaining an immediate foothold into the high-growth markets for EVs, as well as the burgeoning energy storage market that will be reliant on graphite anode material.”
