This claim block is part of the Matawinie graphite property, located in the Saint-Michel-des-Saints area, some 130 km north of Montreal, Québec, Canada.
Of the 13 samples, 7 were collected at surface while 6 were generated by splitting drill core. The samples, weighing approximately 10 kg each, were submitted to SGS laboratories in Lakefield, Ontario, for metallurgical evaluation. The goal of the tests was to generate graphite concentrates from various locations on the property and thereby to assess the metallurgical response of the ore throughout the project area to typical crushing, grinding and flotation processes employed in the industry.
A parallel objective was the characterization of the concentrates in regards to carbon grade and recovery, as well as graphite flake size distribution. The trials are to assist in the selection of the most promising mineralized zones where economic studies would be initiated and future work focused. No thermal or chemical purification was carried out on the flotation concentrate and no optimization attempts were performed during these metallurgical tests.
Nouveau Monde president & CEO Eric Desaulniers said: "These results exceed those of most known graphite exploration projects in terms of flake size distribution and grade of the concentrate using similar test parameters. The favorable metallurgy, coupled with the imposing mineralization widths and grades observed over the property to date (see press releases from September 29th, 2015 and September 10th, 2015), further demonstrate the potential of the property. Nouveau-Monde is committed to provide a first resource calculation of its graphite project over the Tony block by year-end."
FUTURE METALLURGICAL WORK
Further work on the graphite recovery process is planned, with an emphasis on optimizing the flake size distribution and purity of the fine to medium flake sizes.
Moreover, ten tons of graphite ore from the Matawinie project will be processed next month at an independent facility in order to produce sufficient concentrate to assist our ongoing development program of added-value graphite products and deliver material to end-users.
