Mining News
NextSource commissions its Molo graphite mine in Madagascar
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(Kitco News) - NextSource Materials (TSX: NEXT) (OTCQB: NSRCF) announced today that commissioning of the company's Molo graphite mine in Madagascar has been initiated and the installation of the solar and battery facility for the hybrid power plant is in progress.
The company said that the hybrid power plant consists of a thermal generation facility, which is already in operation, and a solar and battery facility, consisting of a 2.6MW solar PV facility and a 1MWh battery energy storage system.
"The thermal facility currently supplies all of the plant's power requirement, and once completed, the solar and battery facility will provide up to 33% of the mine's total electricity needs using renewable energy," it added.
NextSource also reported that front-end engineering and design and environmental and social impact assessment permitting (ESIA) for its first global Battery Anode Facility (BAF1) in Mauritius is now in progress, and that the company is in active discussions with strategic offtake partners and debt and equity financiers who have expressed an interest in funding the BAF1 construction.
The company noted that, subject to obtaining the necessary funding and completion of the ESIA process, it is targeting production from BAF1 in Q2 2024.
President and CEO Craig Scherba commented, "Commissioning of the Molo graphite mine is a testament to the hard work and perseverance of our employees and contractors who have brought this project from design through to implementation in the midst of a global pandemic and shifting geopolitical landscape. That hard work has placed the company in an enviable position as it transitions into a global graphite producer at a time when graphite consumption is increasing dramatically due to the explosive growth in demand for lithium-ion batteries.
"NextSource is taking advantage of this tremendous market opportunity by creating a substantive niche for itself within the global lithium-ion battery supply chain through the commissioning of its first graphite mine and planned construction of its first Battery Anode Facility."
NextSource Materials is a battery materials development company based in Toronto, Canada that is intent on becoming a vertically integrated global supplier of battery materials through the mining and value-added processing of graphite and other minerals.
The company's Molo graphite project in Madagascar is one of the largest known and highest-quality projects globally, and the only one with SuperFlake® graphite. Phase 1 of the Molo mine is in the commissioning phase.
The company is also developing a significant downstream graphite value-add business through the staged rollout of Battery Anode Facilities capable of large-scale production of coated, spheronized and purified graphite for direct delivery to battery and automotive customers.
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