RE:RE:RE:RE:Diane super trader There is a case to be made whether NOU is that far behind.
- First of all, NOU is the only one with a demo plant. In the industrial mineral market where buyers buy materials made to specs, I believe a demo plant is necessary if a company is to expect signing offtakes with buyers. The plant is producing as we speak, and I believe we will soon hear about the first sales. Offtakes will no doubt follow as the American buyers are looking for alternative supplies given the risks with the Chinese supply and the 10% tariffs that is set to rise to 25% by January.
- Mason appears to be between a rock and a hard place. They don’t have such a plant, they have signed no offtakes and they are trying to finance a capex that has risen by 30% recently. I seriously doubt clients will commit to buying tens of thousands of tonnes based on a few kilograms or even tonnes produced out of a pilot plant at SGS Lakefield. If they can’t prove to financiers they have 50% or more of their expected production committed, how can they expect to raise debt?
- NOU’s metallurgy is clearly far superior with an average purity of 97-98% across all flakes and 45% being of large or jumbo size. These are in high demand and attract a premium.
- NOU’s fine and medium flakes are of high purity and of reasonable sulfur content and have been proven to upgrade to battery grade. They have their own R&D team staffed by Martin Brassard, PhD in Chemistry and Andrew Tan, the former SGL Carbon plant manager that has more than 20 years of experience in graphite purification. These guys have been working for more than a year on a purification process that will leverage hydro-electricity. As far as I know, Mason doesn’t have an internal R&D team and their value-added work was carried out by Soutex in Quebec City.
Frelalait wrote: Sais tu comment ca prend de temps avant d’avoir le permis de mine... au moins 2 ans... LLG la finalement eu apres de longues attente malgre lequipe A1, bonne chance mais NOU est juste dans le peloton, LLG est a la ligne d’arrivee