Canada's Next Integrated Graphite Play

Homodeus Research speaks with Paul Ferguson, CEO of Metals Australia (ASX: MLS), about the company's flagship Lac Carheil Graphite Project in Quebec, Canada — positioned by management as the country's next fully integrated, mine-to-anode graphite play. Paul walks through both halves of the project: the upstream mine and flake graphite concentrate plant near Fermont, and the downstream Battery Anode Material (BAM) refinery planned for Baie-Comeau, the subject of a Preliminary Economic Assessment released on 28 April 2026. He frames the resource scale, the grade advantage over Canadian peer Nouveau Monde Graphite, the supportive Quebec and federal funding backdrop, and the structural demand case for natural graphite in lithium-ion battery anodes. The conversation also covers Nouveau Monde's recent Final Investment Decision as a read-through for the sector, the natural-vs-synthetic graphite debate, China's dominance of the anode supply chain, the path from PFS to FID, and the outlook for off-take agreements. What's covered: Paul's background — 35+ years across mining, oil & gas and industrial minerals, including cold-climate processing in Canada Metals Australia's portfolio across Quebec, Western Australia and the Northern Territory The Lac Carheil resource: ~50Mt at ~10.2% Cg for ~5.1Mt contained graphite — and why that's drawn from just ~2.3km of a ~36km mapped strike Upstream plan: an ~860,000 tpa concentrate plant producing ~100,000 tpa of flake graphite concentrate Downstream BAM refinery: ~51,000 tpa of product, ~25-year life, and PEA economics of ~US$1.39bn after-tax NPV-8 (~A$1.98bn) ~US$884m (C$1.26bn) refinery capex and the ~US$260m clean-tech investment tax credit rebate How MLS compares with Nouveau Monde on grade, plant size, capex and downstream NPV Canada's critical minerals plan: five graphite mines and five CSPG refineries targeted by 2040 Government support: a C$600k Quebec grant, mineral exploration tax credits, and clean manufacturing ITCs Conservative price assumptions vs Canada's announced floor price Natural vs synthetic graphite, the China supply-chain question, and the tariff/policy backdrop Cash position (~A$4.4m at end-March), the PFS due mid-2026, and the off-take pathway Guest: Paul Ferguson, CEO, Metals Australia Ltd (ASX: MLS) Host: Wei, Homodeus Research 🔗 Company: metalsaustralia.com.au 🔗 Research: homodeus.one Guest bio Paul Ferguson has been CEO of Metals Australia since January 2024. A mining engineer with a postgraduate finance background, he has more than 35 years of experience across the mining and oil & gas sectors, much of it offshore in Asia and North America — including over a decade in Canada. His experience spans heavy mining, mineral processing and refining in cold-climate environments (notably a ~US$30bn oil sands project with ExxonMobil and Imperial Oil) and the industrial minerals sector, giving him direct insight into the graphite industry. Chapters / timestamps Approximate, based on the recording. Adjust to the final published cut. 00:00 — Introduction & Paul Ferguson's background 02:00 — Metals Australia overview & project portfolio 06:00 — The Quebec graphite project: an integrated mine-to-anode solution 08:30 — Downstream BAM refinery at Baie-Comeau (PEA) 10:00 — Upstream mine, the resource & mineral endowment 12:30 — Resource scale: ~5.1Mt and decades of supply potential 14:00 — Demand outlook & Canada's critical minerals plan 15:00 — The flake graphite concentrate plant & PFS 17:00 — Conservative pricing vs Canada's announced floor price 18:00 — Downstream refinery economics (~A$2bn NPV) 20:00 — Benchmarking MLS against Nouveau Monde Graphite 26:00 — Next steps: PFS, feasibility study & environmental work 29:00 — Q&A: Canadian & Quebec government support 33:00 — PFS timeline and what's left to do 34:00 — Nouveau Monde's FID — the read-through for MLS 36:00 — Natural vs synthetic graphite 38:00 — Policy, tariffs & the macro backdrop 40:00 — Countering China's supply-chain dominance 42:00 — Q&A: supply/demand and the PFS → FEED → FID timeline 46:00 — Cash balance & quarterly spend 48:00 — The path to first off-take agreements 50:30 — Closing remarks Tags / keywords (SEO) Metals Australia · ASX MLS · Lac Carheil · graphite · flake graphite · battery anode material · BAM · lithium-ion battery · critical minerals · Quebec mining · Nouveau Monde · Paul Ferguson · EV supply chain · natural graphite · Baie-Comeau · Fermont · critical minerals Canada · graphite refinery · ASX small caps · Homodeus Research