Canadian battery materials company Nano One Materials Corp (TSX: NANO, OTC:NNOMF) reported a strong cash position at the end of an eventful third quarter during which it reached a strategic deal with Japan’s metals giant Sumitomo Metal Mining (TYO: 5713).
In the same three-month period the clean technology company also completed the pre-feasibility study for its One-Pot lithium-iron-phosphate production lines, finished trials at its commercial-size reactors and delivered samples to customers.
Nano One is an interesting stock in the battery materials universe because it has a patented process to produce lithium-ion battery cathode materials, materials which are used in electric vehicles and electricity storage, while at the same time being located in North America and benefiting from the drive to keep the battery production chain closer to home.
Nano One boosted by the SMM deal
Sumitomo Metal Mining’s strategic equity investment bolstered the company’s cash position by C$17 million, lifting it to C$43m at the end of the reporting quarter. Its total working capital was C$22m before the SMM investment, or C$39m afterwards. The company’s assets totalled C$46m at the end of the reporting period while liabilities hovered at C$7.4m. Nano One doesn’t carry any long-term debt.
The company’s net use of cash and cash equivalents was C$8.4m for the quarter, or C$13.4m year-to-date. Since the start of the year Nano One invested a gross total of C$8.6m on equipment, retrofitting, engineering, and expansion. This is before the allocation of government funding. The battery materials maker said that its annual budgeting planning activities are underway and that its base shelf prospectus will be filed after completing standard company governance practices.
- Nano One awarded US$12m by US Department of Defense for LFP battery work
- Nano One outlines streamlined strategy for near-term battery tech commercialisation
- Nano One receives Canadian electric vehicle supply chain funding
Having the backing of a major industry player like SMM, a leading vertically integrated miner, refiner and producer of cathode active materials, will play a key role not only in terms of finance; it means that the companies will also collaborate to speed up the commercial production of LFP cathode materials and nickel-rich cathode materials.
Nano One plans to use the proceeds from the SMM deal to finance the conversion of its existing Candiac LFP manufacturing facility to a One-Pot production scale pilot plant, for nickel and manganese-rich engineering, and piloting activities.
Recent One-Pot trials in the existing reactors at the company’s Candiac plant have produced LFP at commercial scale with performance results consistent with laboratory scale trials. Nano One has leapfrogged to full commercial size reactors and its LFP can be shipped to select customers for evaluation as a precursor for signing binding offtake agreements.
Pre-feasibility study completed
During the quarter the company also completed the Front-End Loading pre-feasibility study with Hatch Ltd., which estimates that a One-Pot LFP production line can produce 12,500 tonnes of LFP per year. The company has the capacity to build two such lines within a 167,000 square foot building, making it more efficient in size, footprint, and capital cost than other commercial methods of making LFP.
