NextSource partners with Asian companies to build battery anode plant

NextSource Materials (TSX: NEXT; US-OTC: NSRCF) — which is developing its large flake graphite project in Madagascar and is backed by Sir Mick Davis’ Vision Blue Resources — is teaming up with a prominent Japanese trading company and a Chinese company that owns and operates graphite anode processing facilities in China, to build a battery anode plant that it says should be ready for commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2022.

NextSource did not identify its Asia-based partners by name because the two companies “requested not to be identified” for the time being, but described the Japanese company as a “prominent Japanese trading company” and “a major supplier” of spherical graphite (SPG) for anode material used in the lithium-ion batteries used electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). NextSource noted that the Japanese company supplies graphite anode material “to the majority of Japanese automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the Tesla supply chain.”

The Chinese partner is described as a “leading processor of SPG” and “is regarded by OEM anode producers to be a best-in class processor and one of the highest quality suppliers of SPG globally.”