northern graphite corporation: corporate presentation

33
Northern Graphite Corporation (NGC:TSXV, NGPHF:OTCQX) The New Strategic Mineral

Upload: graphite-graphite

Post on 18-Jan-2015

619 views

Category:

Business


1 download

DESCRIPTION

Corporate presentation by the TSX Venture listed company Northern Graphite Corporation.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

Northern Graphite Corporation(NGC:TSXV, NGPHF:OTCQX)

The New Strategic Mineral

Page 2: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

This Presentation may contain “forward-looking information” which may include, but is not limitedto, statements with respect to: timing of the receipt of governmental approvals and/oracceptances; targets, estimates and assumptions in respect of production and prices; amount andtype of future capital expenditures and capital resources; mineral reserves and mineral resources;anticipated grades; recovery rates; future financial or operating performance; costs and timing ofthe development of new deposits; costs, timing and location of future drilling; productiondecisions; costs and timing of construction; operating expenditures; costs and timing of futureexploration; and environmental and reclamation expenses. There can be no assurance that futurerequired regulatory approvals will be obtained or that anticipated transactions or proposed workand construction programmes will be completed satisfactorily. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “is expected”,“budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, or “believes” or variations(including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events orresults “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-lookingstatements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may causethe actual results, performance or achievements of the Company and/or its subsidiaries and/or itsaffiliated companies to be materially different from any future results, performance orachievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Although the Company hasattempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differmaterially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors thatcause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of the applicable public recorddocument which the information is derived from and the Company has disclaimed any obligationto update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future eventsor results or otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove tobe accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated insuch statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-lookingstatements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

Unless indicated otherwise, all dollar figures are in U.S. dollars.

Forward Looking Statements

Page 3: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

This presentation and other information released by the Company uses the terms “resources”,“measured resources”, “indicated resources” and “inferred resources”. United States investors areadvised that, while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian securities laws, the SECdoes not recognize them. Under United States standards, mineralization may not be classified as a“reserve” unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economicallyand legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. Mineralresources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. UnitedStates investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of measured or indicatedresources will ever be converted into reserves. Inferred resources are in addition to measured andindicated resources. Further, inferred resources have a great amount of uncertainty as to theirexistence and as to whether they can be mined legally or economically. It cannot be assumed thatall or any part of the inferred resources will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Therefore,United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of the inferredresources exist, or that they can be mined legally or economically. National Instrument 43-101Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) is a rule developed by the CanadianSecurities Administrators, which established standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes ofscientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. Unless otherwise indicated, allresource estimates contained herein or in other information released by the Company in the pastand in the future, have been or will be prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and the CanadianInstitute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Classification System. The requirements of NI 43-101 are not the same as those of the SEC.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING MINERAL RESOURCES

Page 4: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

The Newest Strategic Mineral

• Growing industrial demand from emerging economies

• Prices have tripled

• Demand growth from new applications

- Li ion batteries, fuel cells, nuclear power

• Chinese supply concerns (70% of world production)

• EU and USA have named graphite a supply critical mineral

• Leading undeveloped deposit with NI 43-101 resource

• Located in Canada, close to infrastructure

• Simple mining & metallurgy

Page 5: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• One of two natural carbon polymers (diamonds)

• Highest natural strength/stiffness of any material

• Corrosion and heat resistant

• Excellent conductor of heat and electricity

• High lubricity

• Lightest weight of all reinforcements

Graphite 101

Page 6: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• 5% annual growth rate this decade

– Driven by Asian steel and auto markets

• Major end uses

– Steel & refractories (41%)

– Carbon brushes and batteries (21%)

– Automotive parts (14%)

– Lubricants (14%)

– Other (10%)

What is Graphite Used For?

Page 7: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Nickel 1,276,000

Graphite 1,006,000

(40% flake, 60% amorphous)

Molybdenum 190,000

REE (oxides) 124,000

Cobalt 68,000

Tungsten 55,000

Lithium 23,000

(tpy)

Large and Growing Industrial Market

Page 8: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• Three emerging technologies with potential to

use multiples of current annual production

• All have operating versions now

– Lithium ion batteries

– Fuel cells

– Pebble bed nuclear reactors

Green Energy Technologies

Page 9: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Lithium Ion Batteries

• Graphite is the anode material - no substitutes

• It takes 20-30 times more graphite than Li (byweight) to make Li ion batteries

• Current Li ion battery demand 30,000 tpy andgrowing 20-30% annually

- Power tools, motor scooters, etc.

• Li ion batteries in cars will lead to rapid demandgrowth (2kg of graphite in HEV, 25-50kg in EV)

Page 10: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Incremental Li Carbonate Demand in 2020

1% 5% 10% 15% 20%

5% 49 109 185 260 336

10% 82 143 218 294 370

15% 116 176 252 328 403

20% 150 210 286 361 437

25% 183 244 319 395 470

EV Market Penetration

HEV

Market

Penetration

(000 tonnes)

(Canaccord Research)

Page 11: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Required Annual Flake Graphite Production

1% 5% 10% 15% 20%

5% 286 637 1,082 1,520 1,965

10% 479 836 1,274 1,719 2,163

15% 678 1,029 1,473 1,918 2,356

20% 877 1,228 1,672 2,111 2,555

25% 1,070 1,310 1,865 2,310 2,748

2020 EV Market Penetration

2020 HEV

Market

Penetration

(000 tonnes)

-one tonne of Li carbonate equals 0.1879 tonnes of Li metal

-one tonne of Li metal requires 10.375 tonnes of graphite

-3 tonnes of graphite flake required to make 1 tonne of spherical graphite for Li ion batteries

Current annual flake graphite production is 400,000 tonnes

Page 12: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

..Congressional stimulus bill includes tens of billions of dollars in loans,grants, and tax incentives for battery and HEV research andmanufacturing to jump-start US industry…

..Michigan awards $544 MM in tax credits to four companies with plans toinvest more than $1.7 billion in Li ion battery manufacturing in the state…

..National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Batteries has selected aKentucky site to build a $600M automotive Li ion battery plant…

..Li battery manufacturer EnterDel plans to invest $237M in newIndianapolis plant…

.."My administration's intent is to make our state the advanced batterycapital of the world," Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm…

.. Samsung predicts global lithium ion battery market will swell to $32billion in 2015 from $ 11billion last year, plans to spend$359 million on battery production this year

Li Ion Batteries in the News

Page 13: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• “Large-scale fuel-cell applications are being developedthat could consume as much graphite as all other usescombined” – USGS, 2009

• All major car companies are working on fuel cell vehicles

• “Toyota sees a clear path to commercial introduction offuel cell vehicles by 2015”

• Honeywell, Siemens, Ballard Power and many otherstargeting fuel cell markets for non-transportation uses

• 80kg of graphite in fuel cell vehicle

Fuel Cell Demand

Page 14: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• Smaller, safer, less costly to permit, build and operate

• Fuel is uranium embedded in graphite balls

-3,000t of graphite to start, 600-1,000 tpy per 1,000MW

• China has operating prototype, and state-owned Huaneg

Group is building two pebble-bed reactors of 200MW each

-One of top 16 priorities in 2006-2020 Plan

-30 planned by 2020

Pebble Bed Nuclear Reactors

Page 15: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• 70% of global production from China

• Mainly low carbon, low value powder or small flake

• Declining production and increasing costs forecast

– decreasing quality and deeper operations

– increasing labor & environmental standards

– modernization and consolidation of industry

• Emphasis on value added processing

• Export taxes, VAT and export licenses imposed

• Production/exports expected to decline

• Currency appreciation will increase costs/prices

Chinese Supply Concerns

Page 16: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Graphite Market Summary

• Growing demand from traditional uses

• Growing demand from new industrial applications

• Growing demand from green energy technologies

• Market dependence on Chinese

• Chinese supply issues

• Lack of exploration, investment and new projects

Page 17: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Demand growth combined with supply concerns haveled to 78% price increase over the past 4 years

Source: Industrial Minerals Magazine

Graphite Prices on the Rise

$0

$250

$500

$750

$1,000

$1,250

$1,500

$1,750

$2,000

$2,250

$2,500

$2,750

$3,000

$3,250

2000 2000 2001 2002 2003 2003 2004 2005 2006 2006 2007 2008 2009 2009 2010 2011

Low High

Price Range for +80 mesh, 94-97%C graphite (US$/tonne)

Page 18: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Size/Purity 80-85% C 90% C 94-97% C

+48 Extra Large - - +$3,000

-48 +80 Large - $1,250-1,450 $2,500-3,000

-80 +100 Medium $1,500-1,900 $1,300-1,450 $2,200-2,500

-100 Fine - $1,400-1,800 $2,000-2,400

powder Amorphous $600-800 - -

Source: Industrial Minerals Magazine Prices, Roskill Industry Report

Premium Pricing for Size and Purity

Bissett Creek

China

55%

35%

10%

30%

70%

$/tonne

Page 19: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• 100km east of North Bay,Ontario

• Easily accessible, 17kmfrom Trans-Canada hwy,close to infrastructure

• Close proximity to majorNorth American steel andautomotive markets

• Freight cost advantage

100 km

Bissett Creek Project

Page 20: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• Large, 100% owned land position

• 18 claims and 1 mining lease totaling 3,000ha

• No major community/aboriginal issues

• $20/tonne royalty on concentrate produced

Mineral Tenure

Page 21: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

•Full feasibility study in 1989 (including P&P reserve*)

•2010 NI 43-101 Preliminary Assessment Report

Large Scalable Graphite Resource

*Historical information is presented for information purposes only. The Feasibility Study and Reserve estimateswere not completed in accordance with NI 43-101 and therefore should not be relied upon.** Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.***The 43-101 Preliminary Assessment includes inferred mineral resources which are considered too speculativegeologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineralreserves. Furthermore, there is no certainty that the results projected in the Preliminary Assessmentwill be realized and actual results may vary substantially.

2011 Updated Mineral Resources (Diluted)

Indicated Inferred

%Cg

Cut-off

Tonnage*

(metric tons)

Cg(%)

by LECO

In Situ Graphite**

(metric tons)

Tonnage*

(metric tons)

Cg(%)

by LECO

In Situ Graphite**

(metric tons)

0.986 25,983,000 1.81 470,300 55,038,000 1.57 864,100

1.227 24,588,000 1.85 454,900 50,472,000 1.62 817,600

1.50 19,954,000 1.99 397,100 33,672,000 1.81 609,500

1.75 16,031,000 2.34 375,100 21,417,000 2.21 473,300

2.0 11,921,000 2.50 298,000 14,584,000 2.37 345,600

Page 22: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Expansion Potential

Page 23: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• Deposit at surface, no overburden

• Continuously mineralized throughout

• Low waste-to-ore ratio

• Conventional open pit mining

• Operating costs of $1,000/t (contract mining)

Typical cross-section of Bissett Creek orebody

Simple Mining

Page 24: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• Bulk sampling, pilot plant testing, and extensive lab

work previously completed by Cominco/Kilborn/BD

• Conventional flotation processing (92-95% recoveries)

• Confirmed by independent tests in 2007 and 2011

• Additional pilot plant testing 4Q 2011

Simple Metallurgy

Page 25: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• 50% +48 mesh jumbo flake 98%C

• 30% +80 mesh large flake 94%C

• 7% +100 mesh medium flake 94%C

• 13% +200 mesh small flake 94%C

• Even if some mines increase their production, this will not solve the persistingsupply problem for large flake crystalline graphite . Technographit, Feb/2009

• Consumption of flake graphite is growing at the expense of amorphous graphiteand there is a potential mismatch between supply and demand for flake graphite.Roskill Aug/2009

• Inventories are now running so low for certain grades that we are seeing ashortage, especially for 94-97%C, +80 mesh….Timcal Oct. 2009

• Presently, large flake graphite supply is very tight due to decreased productioncapacity of Chinese mines … Technographit, Mar. 2010

• The days of cheap, abundant graphite from China are over…. IndustrialMinerals Magazine May, 2011

Large Flake, High Purity Deposit

Page 26: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• C$70-80 MM capital cost

• 2,500 tpd processing rate

• 19,000 tonnes of graphite produced per year

• <0.50 waste-to-ore ratio

• Cash cost of $1,000 per tonne

• 40 year life-of-mine with expansion potential

The 43-101 Preliminary Assessment includes inferred mineral resources which are considered toospeculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to becategorized as mineral reserves. Furthermore, there is no certainty that the results projected in thePreliminary Assessment will be realized and actual results may vary substantially.

Project Parameters

Page 27: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Exploration & expansion drilling

Confirm metallurgy

Pilot plant

Bankable feasibility

Permitting

Construction

First production

2010 2011 2012 2013

Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

Timeline to Production

Page 28: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Conservative 43-101* Current

($CDN/tonne)

Average price $1,300 $1,700 $2,500

Costs 1,000 1,000 1,000

Margin $300 $700 $1,500

($CDN)

Net cash flow ($M) $108.3 $371.5 $937.0

NPV ($M @10%) $3.9 $75.6 $180.4

IRR (%) 10.6 24.0 42.0

Annual cash flow $3.9 $9.3 $28.7

High Price Leverage

*The 43-101 Preliminary Assessment includes inferred mineral resources which are considered toospeculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to becategorized as mineral reserves. Furthermore, there is no certainty that the results projected in thePreliminary Assessment will be realized and actual results may vary substantially.

Page 29: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Northern Graphite Share Structure

Shares Outstanding

Mindesta Inc. (OTC-BB) 9,750,000

Other shareholders 27,249,054

Total 36,999,054

Warrants 5,653,442

Options 2,950,000

Fully-Diluted 45,602,496

Page 30: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Gregory Bowes B.Sc (geology), MBA CEO and DirectorFormerly Senior VP, Orezone Gold Corporation

Don Baxter P. Eng PresidentFormerly President, Ontario Graphite Corporation

Stephen Thompson CA CPA (Illinois) Chief Financial OfficerFormerly Vice President Finance, Ottawa Hydro Limited

Ron Little P. Eng DirectorPresident and CEO, Orezone Gold Corporation (ORE:TSX)

Iain Scarr B.Sc (geology), MBA DirectorFormer Commercial Director, Rio Tinto industrial minerals division, VP Corporate Development, Lithium One

Jay Chmelauskas MBA DirectorPresident/Director, Westerm Lithium Corp.

K. Sethu Raman PhD DirectorIndependent Mining Consultant

Don Christie CA DirectorFormer CFO, Continental Gold

George Hawley Technical Advisor40 years of experience in industrial minerals R&D, market analysis and development

Experienced Management & Board

Page 31: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

Large, growing industrial market

Demand growth from emerging applications

Supply concerns with China

Large flake, high purity, advanced graphite deposit

Good infrastructure and close to markets

Experienced management team and board

Summary

Page 32: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

1

• Pilot plant results (1-2 months)

• Test production of spherical graphite (1-2 months)

• Complete bankable feasibility study (3 months)

• Negotiate financing/offtake with strategic partner

• Initiate detailed engineering, site preparation,order long lead time equipment (subject to FS results)

• Complete permitting in 1Q 2012

• Construction of mine – 1 year

Next Steps

Page 33: Northern Graphite Corporation: Corporate Presentation

Northern Graphite Corporation (NGC:TSXV, NGPHF:OTCBB)

The Newest Strategic Mineral