Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. received $50 million from two government entities to help fund a production facility for electric-vehicle battery materials in Quebec.
The equity investment comes as many companies in the battery supply chain are struggling to raise cash. The Quebec government and the Canada Growth Fund, a C$15-billion ($10.5-billion) fund handled by the federal government’s civil-service pension manager and are each putting in $25-million.
Nouveau Monde has a graphite mine project in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Quebec, about 100 miles north of Montreal, and plans to build a concentrator nearby.
The new money will be used to engineer a refining facility for the production of active anode material, which accounts for about half of an electric vehicle battery. The plant will be built in Becancour, Quebec, where General Motors Co. and Korean firms are already constructing EV battery-component plants.
Nouveau Monde has yet to finish a feasibility study and expects to reach a final investment decision in the first half of next year.
“This is one of the most advanced projects in graphite in North America,” Patrick Charbonneau, chief executive officer of the Canada Growth Fund, said in an interview. The fund has “the ability to absorb risk that the private sector might not be willing to absorb,” he said.
The mining company signed offtake agreements with GM and Panasonic Holdings Corp. earlier this year. Both of those customers also injected $25 million then.
“I think we’ve significantly de-risked the project with the customers like Panasonic Energy and GM,” Nouveau Monde CEO Eric Desaulniers said. The latest investments now add a layer of support that was “essential” for these customers, he added.