Northern Graphite signs option for Mousseau West Graphite Project

The property is located approximately 80 km, and in economic trucking distance, from the producing Lac-des-Iles (LDI) graphite mine in Quebec. On 2 December 2021 Northern announced that it had entered into binding purchase agreements to acquire LDI and a graphite deposit/processing plant in Namibia from subsidiaries of Imerys SA.

Pursuant to the option agreement, Northern has agreed to pay $50 000 for the six-month exclusive right to conduct due diligence on the property. If the company elects to exercise its option, it can acquire Mousseau West through the payment of $500 000 in cash and the issuance of 900 000 common shares of the company, subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange. Northern will also have the right to acquire the 2% NSR from the owners at any time upon the payment of $1 million.

A technical report entitled ‘Technical Report and Resources Estimate of the Mousseau West Property’, dated 24 September 2013, was completed by Alain Tremblay, geol. eng. and Yvan Bussières, geol. eng. in accordance with the requirements of National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). It was filed on SEDAR on 17 October 2013 and is available under the profile of NanoXplore Inc. From 1996 to 2008, Alain Tremblay was in charge of exploration at the LDI mine and is well-acquainted with the geology and mining of graphite mineralisation in the area. The report states that the nature of mineralisation at Mousseau West is similar to LDI which “indicates high confidence in the possibility of mining, milling and concentrating it into a final graphite product suitable for customers.”

Gregory Bowes, CEO commented that:

“The company’s main priority when the Imerys Transaction closes is to extend the mine life at LDI, increase production back to its nameplate capacity of 25 000 tpy and solidify its position as the only producing graphite mine in North America. The Mousseau West deposit not only provides an attractive option for meeting these objectives, it also has the potential to become a significant project in its own right.

“The world requires significantly more graphite production to support the evolution to electric vehicles, and Northern believes that high-quality deposits located close to infrastructure in politically stable jurisdictions will become very valuable commodities.”

Mousseau West consists of 12 claims totalling 489 ha. in size. It is located approximately 150 km north of Montreal in the Mont-Laurier area and can be accessed from Highway 117 over 12 km of good quality logging roads. Over 7500 m of drilling has been carried out on the property and the report estimates that it contains an Inferred Resource of 4.1 million t grading 6.2% graphitic carbon (Cg). The resource includes 2.7 million t that have been drilled on 25 m centres which the report states “are considered to have reached a high level of definition and do not need additional work.” In 1990 Derry, Michener, Booth & Wahl (DMBW) estimated Probable Reserves of 1.7 million t grading 7.2% Cg and Possible Reserves of 0.7 million t grading 7.8% Cg.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/24022022/northern-graphite-signs-option-for-mousseau-west-graphite-project/