RE:Mason evaluates a second factory in Baie ComeauEnglish translation to the very old article. Mason Graphite has not yet built its first plant in Baie-Comeau and the company is already considering setting up a second. It confirmed on Tuesday that it was going forward with a feasibility study for this possible secondary graphite processing plant adjacent to its future concentrator planned at the Jean-Nol-Tessier industrial park in Baie-Comeau. Mason is already planning to produce around 50,000 tonnes of high purity graphite concentrate in Baie-Comeau in early 2018. Construction of this concentrator is due to begin early next year. It will be fed by ore that will be extracted from the Lac Guret graphite mine, nearly 300 kilometers north of Baie-Comeau. This first project is valued at $ 165 million. But the graphite market is larger than that of concentrate, confides the executive vice-president and chief financial officer at Mason Graphite, Luc Veilleux, hence this interest in being able to produce value-added products on a large scale. “There are customers who will need the primary product, but there are others who are looking for further processed products to their specifications. Our intentions are therefore to set up a [secondary processing] factory. Before, however, we must demonstrate the feasibility, but we are confident, ”he said. This study will take the form of an applied research program in collaboration with the National Research Center of Canada (NRC), which will fund almost half the cost of this study, estimated at $ 1,070,000. Innovation and Development (ID) Manicouagan, the economic arm of the City of Baie-Comeau and the MRC of Manicouagan, is contributing $ 107,000. For its part, the Quebec Ministry of the Economy, Science and Innovation is granting $ 50,000. The rest of the sum, around $ 400,000, will come from Mason Graphite's pockets. Research will focus, among other things, on lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery anodes for electric vehicles as well as products suitable for specific technical applications such as brake linings, alkaline and fuel cells, plastics and lubricants.