Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. announced the appointment of Pierre-Luc St-Hilaire as Operations Director for the demonstration plant. Mr. St-Hilaire previously acted as Production Supervisor, Processing at Cascades Tissue Group after having spent 15 years at Imerys Graphite & Carbon Canada as Plant Supervisor of their Terrebonne VAP plant. His experience in the transformation and micronization of graphite concentrate will be key in successfully implementing Nouveau Monde's processes and operations in preparation for commercial production. In parallel, Karl Trudeau is stepping down as Chief Operating Officer for personal reasons. Over the past two years, Mr. Trudeau has been instrumental in the construction and commissioning of the demonstration plant as well as efforts to drive social acceptability. His contribution helped the Company refine the Matawinie project from pre-feasibility models to detailed engineering-ready concept. With his rich graphite transformation expertise, he will continue to serve Nouveau Monde as a consultant.

The company announced the receipt of the first commercial-scale spheronization and micronization equipment at its graphite demonstration plant in Saint-Michel-des-Saints as part of its strategy to supply the lithium-ion battery (LiB) market with a high-purity, sustainable and ethically sourced product. Nouveau Monde is currently producing graphite concentrate at its demonstration plant and pre-qualifying it among potential future clients within traditional market segments, such as in lining refractories found in the steel making industry, foils for electronics and lubricants. With the installment of this new equipment, Nouveau Monde will begin transforming its graphite concentrate into value-added products (VAP) such as spherical graphite, the key component of the anode of a LiB. Over the next few weeks, the Company will complete the equipment installation, commissioning and ramp-up. This Phase 2 demonstration plant is expected to begin producing VAP products before the end of First Quarter 2020 and destined for the pre-qualification by potential future clients within this market segment, which is forecasted to grow exponentially over the next several years.