Mason has highest ore value but low market capWith Northern’s just announced purchase of Imery’s more-or-less mined out Lac des lles graphite mine and their mothballed, low grade Namibian graphite mine (5% C) that they couldn’t mine at a profit, NGC’s market cap is now almost on par with Mason’s. However, note that Mason’s Lac Gueret graphite deposit in Quebec has much higher ore value because of its much higher grade. What’s more, because much less rock will need to be mined and milled at Lac Gueret to produce a tonne of graphite, it’s carbon footprint will be much less than the other Quebec/Ontario/Namibia projects. Considering that Mason’s battery testing program is more advanced than either of the other two companies and that Mason has recently unveiled a new graphene-focused subsidiary (Black Swan Graphene), LLG would appear to be undervalued in the Quebec battery materials space.
The Mookster
Ore Value Calculation
FlakeMesh
size | Price/t
(US$) | Mason (Lac Gueret)
Grade 28%
(616 lbC/t) | Nouveau Monde
(Matawinie) 4.3%
(97 lbC/t) | Northern Graphite
(Bissett) Grade 2.1%
(46 lbC/t) |
| | | % | lb/t | $/t | % | lb/t | $/t | % | lb/t | $/t |
| -32 | $6200 | | | | | | | 16 | 7 | 22 |
| -50 | 1200 | 13 | 80 | 48 | 20 | 19 | 11 | 42 | 19 | 11 |
| -80 | 500 | 16 | 99 | 25 | 32 | 31 | 8 | 30 | 14 | 4 |
| -100 | 490 | 14 | 86 | 22 | 34 | 33 | 8 | 12 | 6 | 2 |
| fines | 375 | 57 | 351 | 66 | 10 | 10 | 2 | nil | | |
| | Total ore value | $161/t | | Total | $29/t | | Total | $39/t |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | Market cap (mm) | $87 | | | $472 | | | $72 |