Porcupine Engineering Services of Timmins is joint venturing with a Richmond Hill outfit for the engineering and design of a graphite mine.
Northern Graphite Corporation announced Jan. 18 that it has awarded a $3.5 million contract to Porcupine Engineering and Becma for the front end engineering and design (FEED) for its Bisset Creek project.
The $102.9 million mine will include a 2,500 tonne per day processing mill that will produce 20,000 tonnes annually of large flake, high purity graphite.
The project is located 100 kilometres east of North Bay, about 15 kilometres off the Trans-Canada Highway.
The engineering and design phase should take about seven months to finish.
"We are very pleased to be initiating the FEED process which is the first step in implementing the bankable feasibility study,” said Northern Graphite CEO Gregory Bowes in a statement. “It enables us to continue advancing and de-risking the project while maintaining the time line to production, and to solidify our leading position in the industry. While the graphite market has softened in line with slower growth in China and weak economies in the U.S. and Europe, the company well positioned to benefit from a recovery with the commencement of production scheduled for late 2014."