Great Lakes Graphite is moving its graphite processing facility from Matheson, outside of Timmins, to the U.S.
The company announced on May 3 that it had terminated its agreement with Northfil Resources, which owns the Matheson mill, and has struck up a memorandum of understanding with Shamokin Carbons, a privately owned provider of carbon products that has multiple locations in Pennsylvania.
In a news release, the company said termination of the agreement, which was struck in May 2015, would take effect immediately.
“After careful consideration and extensive discussions with representatives of Northfil Resources Ltd., the company has agreed to immediately conclude operations at the Matheson facility and, alternatively, will focus on ramping up production operations at partner locations in the U.S.,” the company said.
Great Lakes Graphite had refurbished the mill — which formerly processed vermiculite — to micronize graphite, which grinds the material into a fine powder.
The company even received $412,360 from the provincial government toward the refurbishment.
Great Lakes Graphite said it had started working with Shamokin in 2016, which had allowed it to fulfill a number of orders for synthetic graphite.
The company cited Shamokin’s experience and logistics as primary reasons behind the move.
“Shamokin is a great partner for us,” CEO Paul Gorman said in the release.
“With facilities producing well in excess of 100,000 tons per year of carbon products we will work together to achieve higher volumes than we originally anticipated and at a faster pace than originally anticipated in our plans.”
