Nouveau Monde hires former leaders of Imerys Graphite & Carbon and SGL Carbon
GATINEAU, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Jan 26, 2017) - Nouveau Monde Mining Enterprises Inc. (TSX VENTURE:NOU)(OTC PINK:NMGRF)(FRANKFURT:NM9) ("Nouveau Monde" or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that it has recently hired two key individuals Mr. Armando Farhate, as well as Mr. Andrew Tan, MScE., for consultancy work, as it pursues its acquisition of strategic personnel to advance its fully owned Matawinie Graphite Property.
Mr. Farhate's initial mandate includes a detailed natural graphite market analysis, with an emphasis for the North American, European and Japanese markets. More specifically, Mr. Farhate will identify key customers, market size, pricing by class and identify key product requirements. This will provide valuable information which will be used to direct the development of Nouveau Monde's natural flake graphite and value-added products. This market analysis will also help in optimizing our process flow sheet in order to enhance the project's economics.
Mr. Tan's initial mandate will focus on developing the flow sheet of value-added products. More specifically, he will concentrate his efforts on thermal purification as well as the manufacturing of spherical, expandable & expanded natural flake graphite products. His work experience in China will be used to connect Nouveau Monde to key equipment suppliers and potential customers.
The work experience and credentials of Mr. Farhate and Mr. Tan are listed below:
Armando Farhate
Mr. Farhate cumulates over 25 years of successful experience in executive and leadership positions in various sectors such as engineering and operations, sales, marketing, purchasing, import and export. Mr. Farhate developed his skills working for numerous national and multinational companies such as Imerys Graphite & Carbon, Nacional de Grafite, GEA Group, Sonoco Products, Menshen - LUKAD Group, Alcan Group / Cebal Brasil / Metalpack Embalagens and Cofap Group. Armando managed industrial and commercial operations with net income above $ 65 million / year and teams of more than 800 employees. From 2011 to 2014, Armando was Chief Operation Officer (COO) for National de Grafite LTDA., a Brazilian natural crystalline graphite mining and processing company. In 2015, Mr. Farhate accepted a position at Imerys Graphite and Carbon (or "Imerys") where he was directly responsible for the mining and processing units in Lac-Des-Îles, QC, and Terrebonne, QC, Canada. In 2016, he was the Natural Graphite Product Director at Imerys. Mr. Armando Farhate graduated in Mechanical Engineering at Paulista University (UNIP) in 1987 and he obtained an MBA in Mauá, Brazil in 1998. Armando is Fluent in Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian, German and French.
Zhengli (Andrew) Tan, MScE
Andrew Tan has more than 20 years of experience as a chemical engineer in the carbon & graphite industry. From 2011 to 2013, Mr. Tan was a General Manager of an expanded graphite foil manufacturing site in China for SGL Carbon SE where he accumulated process engineering experience. Through his tasks, he developed various engineering processes including a commercial scale high temperature chemical purification process for natural graphite and a carbon material surface modification process. From 2013 to present, Mr. Tan worked as an independent consultant for graphite mining companies specializing in natural graphite value added products. His in-depth knowledge, experiences and global connections with graphite industry and LiB anode industry provided valuable solutions for his clients. Mr. Tan obtained an MScE degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick in 2006.
Financing
Nouveau Monde has undertaken to complete a non-brokered private placement for the maximum amount of $1-million, through the offering of up to 4,347,826 units priced at 0.23$. Each Unit is comprised of one common share of the Corporation and one common share purchase warrant. Each common share purchase warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to subscribe for one common share of the capital stock of the Corporation, at a price of $0.35 per common share, for a period of 24 months following the closing. The aggregate gross proceeds of the offering will be used by the Corporation to incur exploration expenses on its Matawinie property located in the province of Québec and for its working capital. All securities issued pursuant to the private placement are subject to a four-month-and-one-day hold period. The private placement is subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
About Nouveau Monde
In 2015, Nouveau Monde discovered a graphite deposit on its Tony claim block, part of its fully owned Matawinie graphite Property. This discovery resulted in the publishing of a Preliminary Economic Assessment, completed according to NI 43-101 guidelines, in June of 2016. This study demonstrated strong economics with a planned production of 50,000 tpy of high purity flake graphite over a period of 25.7 years which is expected to provide a solid operational margin and relatively low capital expenditures (see press release dated June 22, 2016). The project is located in the Saint-Michel-des-Saints area, some 120 km north of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has direct access to all needed infrastructure, labour as well as green and affordable hydroelectricity. Nouveau Monde is developing its project with the highest corporate social responsibility standards while targeting a low environmental footprint (targeting a net zero carbon emission operation).
Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) has in any way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction or approved or disapproved the contents of this press release.
Except for historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated by such statements. Nouveau Monde will not update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect financial results is included in the documents filed from time to time with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities by Nouveau Monde.
Contact
Eric Desaulniers, M.Sc., P.Geo.
President and Chief Executive Officer of Nouveau Monde
(819) 923-0333