It was a five-year process to get Nouveau Monde Graphite (CVE:NOU) permitted, said CEO Eric Desauliers.
Desauliers spoke to Kitco on Wednesday.
Last month Nouveau Monde Graphite received the go-ahead for its Quebec-based project after five years of studies and regulatory hoops. By mid-decade the company plans to produce 45,000 tonnes per annum of anode material and purified jumbo flake.
"It took us since 2016 working on...all the engineering studies in parallel to the environmental impact studies. It's a five-year process to get a mine permitted in the Western world," said Desauliers.
"All the customers we are talking to wants a mine in the Western world to improve security of supply. Having a fully-permitted mine takes a lot of time compared to [building] a battery plant."
Tesla's Giga Nevada plant took about two years to build.
Nouveau Monde said graphite is fundamental to every battery no matter the chemistry. It is the anode material of every lithium-ion battery.
China is a dominant graphite supplier, but Western automakers are championing graphite sources closer to home to avoid over-reliance on one supplier.
Nouveau Monde said demand is expected to outstrip supply by 2023 and continue beyond.