Sydney-listed Metals Australia (ASX:MLS) is accelerating development of a high-purity graphite refinery in Quebec, bypassing intermediate engineering studies to speed the project worth more than US$2 billion to its final feasibility stage.
The company, through its Canadian subsidiary Northern Resources detailed plans To process 75,000 tonnes of flake graphite concentrate annually.
The crude will be extracted from the upstream Lac Carhel project near Fremont and transported to a planned refinery in Baie-Comeau.
The preliminary economic valuation of the integrated operations yielded a pre-tax net present value of US$2.05 billion, which included an internal rate of return of 25.6 percent as well as a discount rate of 8 percent.
Guided by these initial metrics, the company will skip the traditional pre-feasibility study phase altogether and proceed directly to the final feasibility study.
The aggressive timeline highlights the geological strength of the Lac Carhill deposit. The asset’s current mineral resource has an average graphite grade of 10.2 percent. Management noted that this concentration is approximately 2.4 times higher than the grade profile of regional competitor Nouveau Monde Graphite (TSX:NOU, NYSE:NMG), based on publicly available data.
The Perth-based miner has also indicated substantial resource expansion potential by identifying nine additional, undrilled graphite zones spanning a 33-kilometre corridor at the property.
To support the downstream supply chain, Metals Australia selected the Bai-Comu Municipality for its refinery site, taking advantage of existing heavy industrial zoning and significant export infrastructure including a deep-water port and a rail ferry.
The processing plant is expected to require a workforce of 227 employees, which will contribute an estimated US$21.5 million in direct annual wages to the regional economy.
As Western governments struggle to secure domestic supply chains for electric vehicle battery inputs, Canada has established a formal mandate to bring five graphite mines and five coated spherical, pure graphite refineries online by 2040.
Metals Australia CEO and Northern Resources chairman Paul Ferguson linked the company’s accelerated timeline to this sovereign strategy.
“At a time when the world needs a stable, secure, long-term supply of critical minerals and the energy solutions that can be created from them, we have unveiled a world-class project that is right in line with that strategic need,” Ferguson said.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Gian Liguid, do not have any direct investment interest in any of the companies mentioned in this article.
