Global Battery Materials Corp. (GBM) has an agreement to acquire Lomiko Metals Inc. for an equity value of approximately $11 million, potentially forming a larger player in Canada’s graphite and battery industries.

Vancouver-based critical minerals explorer and developer Lomiko announced the deal Tuesday morning. Under the agreement, Toronto-based GBM is to acquire all the common shares of Lomiko for $0.13 per share, a 71 per cent premium to the 20-day volume-weighted average trading price on the TSX Venture Exchange for the period ending on July 27.

Graphite is sought-after for making anode materials, which are critical to giving lithium-ion batteries their much-desired energy density and stability.

GBM intends to restart a graphite mine in Kearney, Ont. and produce tens of thousands of tonnes of anode materials in North America using the mineral. The plan is to sell the anode materials to clients in battery energy storage, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence, for example.

GBM declined an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada, citing the nature of the in-progress transaction. The company quoted its CEO Eric Miller as saying, “This acquisition marks another decisive step in our strategy to consolidate the fragmented battery supply chain and build a fully integrated graphite platform spanning mine to anode.”

Lomiko, he continued, “brings a portfolio of natural graphite assets that strengthen our North American footprint and deliver the scale to support a rapidly growing anode materials market.”

Acquisition anticipated to close Q4

If the acquisition closes, Lomiko’s flagship La Loutre project in southern Québec, its Yellow Fox Property and other graphite assets are to be added to GBM’s anode materials platform as long-term strategic assets.

Upon approval of the transaction, GBM plans to engage with local rightholders and stakeholders as part of a structured review of La Loutre, Miller said.

La Loutre has an indicated 69.7 megatonnes of ore and over three megatonnes of graphite, Lomiko states on its website.

A special committee of Lomikos’s board of directors has unanimously recommended the board approve the transaction, a release states. Consequently, the acquisition has been unanimously approved by the board. The closing of the transaction is expected in Q4, subject to securityholder, court, third-party and regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Along with the agreement, GBM and Lomiko entered into a loan facility where GBM would lend up to $800,000 or $1.2 million to Lomiko to assist with funding working capital requirements, pending closing of the transaction.

“The transaction provides immediate value to our shareholders while placing the La Loutre Graphite Project within an organization that combines Canadian graphite resources with advanced anode processing technology,” Gordana Slepcev, CEO of Lomiko, said in the announcement of the acquisition.

BGM’s production plans, Lomiko’s other resources

In a previous interview with Sustainable Biz Canada, Miller said GBM is on the hunt for an anode materials production site in North America, with the aim of producing up to 50,000 tonnes of the battery component per year. The expectation is to start building the factory in 2027 and begin supplying customers by the end of 2028.

Besides La Loutre, Lomiko holds approximately 268 mining claims covering 15,639 hectares spread across six blocks in the Laurentian region of Quebec. The properties are in a region famed for its natural flake graphite, and are within a 100-kilometre radius of La Loutre.