We interviewed Eric Desaulniers, President and CEO of Nouveau Monde Graphite (TSX:NOU). Is Graphite finally getting noticed?

Nouveau Monde Graphite found their discovery in 2015. They set out to build a large Graphite business at the time when Graphite was fashionable in 2012. And by fashionable we mean fundable. Initially identifying 20 anomalies before finally settling on the Tony Block.

Nouveau Monde is an advanced stage project now moving in to the phase of building pilot plants. They have built a team who have the experience in building a mining business. Nouveau Monde Graphite hired a lot of the Imerys staff when Imerys Graphite & Carbon shut down their North American operation to focus on the Namibian asset, including Carl Trudeau as COO (nicknamed the Sheriff). A highly experienced operating team who have experience is running a successful Graphite and Carbon business. It is a Switzerland based operator. Plus a a large team of people with construction experience in building the plant.

Nouveau Monde Graphite has an off-take agreement with Traxys, a large logistics, finance and trader business in the commodity space. They are worth several billion dollars. Traxys is interested in the Graphite refractory market as they have a strong sales channel. This is just a joint marketing agreement; it is not a pay & play agreement yet. Nouveau Monde hopes for a take & pay agreement once they are looking at putting financing in place.

There is lots to like about how Nouveau Monde Graphite have put this project together. It's intelligent and thoughtful. Next stage for them is prove that they can get this project funded. Having Pallinghurst as a major investor is important but how exposed Pallinghurst is willing to be or how much control they will demand are potential concerns. They have recently come in on the private placement. Our only negative is that they do not seem to understand how to work the market. We didn't understand what the plans are to promote the business and how they intend to drive liquidity and volume of trading. It's a weak link and probably the only thing that would stop us investing. The shares have suffered and we didn't hear anything as to how they know how to affect change.


Interview Highlights:

  • Overview of The Company
  • Strategy & Plan: What Did They Set Out to Build?
  • Graphite and The Graphite Market Explained
  • Team Experience
  • Traxys Group Partnership Deal: How Did This Relationship Start?
  • Commerciality, Raising Money and Company Financials
  • Promotion & Shareholders: What Are They Doing To Increase Share Price?

Company page: nouveaumonde.ca/en/

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