Canada Advances G7 Critical Minerals Alliance with $4.6 Billion Package, Nouveau Monde Graphite Emerges as Key Player

The G7's transition from resilience rhetoric to concrete action through the Critical Minerals Alliance represents a fundamental shift in Western industrial policy, with Canada taking a leadership role through a comprehensive $4.6-billion package of projects. This initiative combines long-term supply contracts, price-stability mechanisms, strategic stockpiling and co-investment tools designed to accelerate mining and processing projects serving allied nations. Canada's abundant resources position it to become the trusted alternative supplier to the Western world, moving beyond mere acknowledgment of supply chain risks to active co-investment and partnership with industry.

Canada's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson emphasized the significance of this development, stating that these first-round G7 Alliance projects demonstrate serious commitment to reducing market concentration and dependencies while safeguarding national security and sovereignty. The emerging coordinated industrial policy links critical minerals development across borders, aligning Canada, the U.S. and Europe on battery supply chains while treating mineral supply as simultaneously addressing national security, energy strategy and industrial policy concerns.

Graphite occupies a central position in this alliance strategy, given China's continued dominance in supplying the overwhelming majority of processed graphite materials globally. Allied governments are prioritizing projects that can deliver secure, vertically integrated capacity with dual objectives: preventing locally sourced minerals from being exported to China for processing while retaining the technological, economic and risk-reduction benefits of advanced materials production domestically.

Nouveau Monde Graphite (NYSE: NMG) (TSX: NOU) exemplifies how government policy is translating into industrial execution, having secured multiple strategic commercial agreements before construction begins on its operations. The company announced a binding supply and marketing deal with the Government of Canada for 30,000 tonnes per annum of graphite concentrate allocated to Canada and allied countries supporting strategic applications. Additional agreements include an updated joint marketing and offtake arrangement with Traxys covering North American and European refractory markets for steel with exclusive end-users for 20,000 tpa of graphite concentrate, and an updated agreement with Panasonic Energy fast-tracking construction for 13,000 tpa of active anode material through Nouveau Monde Graphite's integrated value chain at their Bécancour Battery Materials Plant.

These commitments provide Nouveau Monde Graphite with visibility over nearly 100% of its planned Matawinie Mine output before construction commences, representing exceptional de-risking in a sector where most projects typically secure buyers after financing. The company characterizes these agreements as a first-of-their-kind public-private delivery in the Western graphite sector, achieving rare alignment of government, industry and market forces.

Nouveau Monde Graphite has positioned itself not merely as a graphite producer but as a vertically integrated natural graphite champion capable of delivering high-purity materials including anode-grade graphite through its seamless value chain from mine to processed product. This integrated approach provides material advantage given graphite's status as a critical mineral essential to energy storage, electric vehicles, defense and advanced manufacturing sectors. Founder, President and CEO Eric Desaulniers noted that these commercial agreements provide targeted financial partners with visibility on the project's bankability and risk profile, facilitating confidence in moving toward final investment decision and commercial operations launch.

The company currently operates in a strategic window where market valuation may not yet fully reflect the project's long-term strategic potential marked by commercial alignment, government support and validated demand. With contracts signed, engineering and permitting largely completed and community partnerships secured, Nouveau Monde Graphite is advancing toward project financing with due diligence nearing completion and term sheet negotiations progressing, positioning itself to become one of the G7's largest fully vertically integrated producers of natural graphite. For additional insights, watch the full interview with CEO Eric Desaulniers at https://www.youtube.com/live/mshDxl4SH6A?si=pUkZZXlqCu5JTokE&t=9936.