The order with an unnamed global manufacturer, initially made in December, includes about 30% of the required fleet the company will need for its processing plant, including all mills, flotation cells and columns, thickeners and filters.

There is additional procurement work under way via purchase orders with other suppliers. Some of these items include wet screens, pumps, a dryer, scrubber and crusher, all of which will be delivered on schedule.

Mason Graphite has also launched a bidding process to finalise the selection of a civil work contractor for the project’s sites; all bids have been received and are now under evaluation.

Finally, a piloting programme has also started to produce additional concentrate material for testing, work on value-added products and provide supply to NanoXplore's graphene production facility.

“The execution of the project has recently met some major milestones, such as the completion of detailed engineering for the civil work for both sites and the construction of the access road leading to the plant site in Baie-Comeau, [and] maintenance work on forest road 202 leading to the mine site has also started last fall and will resume this spring,” president and CEO Benoît Gascon said.

“This purchase order, another very important milestone, brings the project one step closer to construction, which will be able to begin once the final authorisations are obtained.”