Next Steps at Great Lakes Graphite (GLK-V)
Great Lakes Graphite is holding its shareholder meeting today in Toronto, Ontario. Since no nominees apart from management’s slate of directors has appeared, it’s probable that management’s nominees will be elected to execute on the company’s business plan.
Also on the agenda are the usual shareholder house-keeping proposals.
It is this team, led by Paul Gorman, CEO, that will have to propel the company’s business plan forward, driven in part by the June 17/15 press release in which Great Lakes Graphite announced the completion of its inaugural mineral resource estimate for its 100% owned Lochaber Graphite Project in Quebec, just 30 km east of Ottawa.
SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. prepared the Lochaber resource estimate based on near-surface mineralization within a conceptual pit shell. Great Lakes Graphite announced its belief that SRK’s report was consistent with Great Lakes Graphite’s own model, calling for a quarry style shallow pit operation, which is less complex than an underground operation. It is also generally less complex to scale a quarry operation, up or down, in a rapid supply response to customer demand.
In mining, “less complex” almost always means “less risky and less costly”.
SRK reported in excess of 4 million tonnes of 4.01% graphite at Lochaber using a cut-off grade of 2.45%, based on a graphitic carbon price of USD$1,600 per tonne. The graphite ranged in size from Super Jumbo Flake to powder. Together, the Super Jumbo, Jumbo and Large flakes aggregate to roughly 57% of the resource estimate.
The other main part of Great Lakes Graphite’s business plan calls for the Lochaber graphite and other product to be processed at Great Lakes Graphite’s micronization facility near Matheson, Ontario. Great Lakes Graphite intends that small flake from Lochaber be shipped to Matheson and then used as feedstock for value-added graphite products.
Great Lakes Graphite is re-commissioning the Matheson facility for re-start in late 2015, giving it vertical integration in the nascent North American graphite market. Being first out of the gate should give Great Lakes Graphite a competitive advantage on an accelerated timeline to revenue. Assuming this team is elected at today’s meeting, measure their success by how they deliver throughout 2015 on this business plan.
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