Great Lakes should give up on Matheson Since May when DEAM engineering left the Matheson plant there has been no work done on the mills. Investors have heard reasons such as waiting for CMS technicians, Ministry of Labor or whatever. However, after 2 years the plant still has not micronized graphite and from what I saw a few weeks ago has no chance of doing it in the near future.
I have worked in mills for over 30 years notably for Hedman (owners of the plant before Northfil) and for Imery’s (a company which sells micronized graphite) and currently reside within 20 km of the plant. I can assure you this plant will not run without a) serious money b) a re-thinking of the graphite flow through the plant c) complete the assembly of the current mills followed by extensive testing, and d) some customer to buy the flake graphite in the plant (Great Lakes currently only has sales for synthetic graphite, their sales are nil for flake graphite). Even if the plant were started the return on micronizing (not refining) is at the most $200 Canadian per ton (call Imery’s ask their graphite prices this is what a mil makes per ton). Even at 3500 tons per year the plant still loses money. This plant made money in the past by processing large volumes > 30,000 tons of material.
GLK should concentrate on synthetic graphite, they clearly are contracting the micronizing and refining of their synthetic graphite at another location. Note: I hold no position in any graphite company, however, like Great Lakes Graphite, I see tremendous unexploited potential for synthetic graphite (more consistent, not as difficult to source, qualify, micronize or refine, and apparently Great Lakes has increasing sales).