Lomiko Metals has crossed another major threshold in its proposed sale to Global Battery Materials, moving the Quebec-focused graphite developer significantly closer to becoming part of a privately held North American battery-materials platform. On September 28, the Supreme Court of British Columbia granted the final order approving the companies’ previously announced plan of arrangement.
The court decision follows overwhelming securityholder support for the all-cash takeover, which would see Global Battery Materials acquire Lomiko for C$0.13 per share. The transaction still has conditions to clear before it officially closes, including stock-exchange approval, with the companies targeting completion in October 2026. Behind the relatively modest C$11-million transaction is a much larger story involving Quebec graphite, government-backed critical-mineral development and efforts to build battery supply chains outside China.
The Court Order Clears a Major Legal Hurdle
The September 28 decision from the Supreme Court of British Columbia represents one of the most important procedural milestones in the takeover process. Lomiko is being acquired through a plan of arrangement under British Columbia’s Business Corporations Act, a structure commonly used for Canadian corporate acquisitions because it combines securityholder approval with court oversight. The court had previously granted an interim order allowing Lomiko to hold the special securityholder meeting required to vote on the transaction.
Receiving the final order does not mean Global Battery Materials already owns Lomiko. The company specifically said the arrangement remains subject to customary closing conditions, including stock-exchange approval. Provided those requirements are obtained, satisfied or waived where permitted, Lomiko expects the transaction to close during October 2026. That distinction matters because the September ruling concerns the corporate acquisition itself. It is not a mining permit, an environmental authorization or approval to construct La Loutre, meaning the graphite project must continue through its own separate development and regulatory processes.
The Deal Values Lomiko at About C$11 Million
Global Battery Materials agreed to pay C$0.13 in cash for every outstanding Lomiko common share. When the transaction was announced in July, Lomiko said the price implied a fully diluted equity value of approximately C$11 million. Although that number may look relatively small beside the hundreds of millions of dollars contemplated in La Loutre’s development studies, it represented a substantial premium for existing investors: roughly 71% above Lomiko’s 20-day volume-weighted average share price on the TSX Venture Exchange through July 27.
The agreement was also accompanied by interim financing. Global Battery Materials agreed to provide Lomiko with a senior secured bridge facility of up to C$800,000, with the possibility of increasing it to C$1.2 million under specified circumstances. The facility carries an 8% annual interest rate and was designed to support working-capital requirements while the acquisition moved toward completion. For a development-stage mining company still funding engineering, exploration and corporate expenses, that financing provided a financial bridge between signing the agreement and closing the sale.
Securityholders Backed the Takeover by Wide Margins
The acquisition entered its final court stage only after Lomiko’s investors delivered the approvals required at a September 23 special meeting. Among shareholders voting in person or by proxy, 88.13% of votes supported the arrangement. When shareholders and warrant holders were counted together as a single class, approval reached 87.81%. A separate vote excluding certain shareholders under Canadian minority-securityholder protections produced 86.34% support.
Those results comfortably exceeded the applicable approval thresholds. The process was more involved than simply counting ordinary shareholder votes because the arrangement required multiple voting tests, including approval from at least two-thirds of votes cast by shareholders and by securityholders voting together, plus a majority-of-the-minority test under Multilateral Instrument 61-101. The strong final results followed months of building support. Before the meeting, additional investors holding roughly 4.7% of Lomiko’s outstanding shares had entered voting and support agreements with Global Battery Materials, adding to agreements already signed by directors, officers and other shareholders when the deal was announced.
Global Battery Materials Is Pursuing a Mine-to-Anode Strategy
Global Battery Materials describes itself as a private Canadian critical-minerals and battery-technology company focused on building a North American supply chain extending from natural graphite resources through active anode material. That strategy helps explain why Lomiko is attractive to the buyer. Rather than simply acquiring another exploration property, GBM would gain a sizeable Canadian graphite resource that could eventually feed its downstream processing ambitions if La Loutre reaches commercial production.
GBM says its anode-processing technology has already been validated at a pilot facility in South Korea and that its Korean operations produce anode materials. The company also operates the GBM Graphite Lab in Mont-Laurier, Quebec, where purified graphite-concentrate samples are being produced for prospective industrial and battery customers. Lomiko therefore fits into a broader vertical-integration strategy: securing potential raw material in Quebec while developing processing expertise capable of moving graphite further along the value chain. That does not guarantee commercial success, but it gives the takeover a rationale beyond simply accumulating mineral claims.
La Loutre Is the Centrepiece of the Acquisition
Lomiko’s most important asset is the La Loutre natural-flake graphite project in Quebec’s Outaouais region. A pre-feasibility study filed in May 2026 outlined probable mineral reserves of 46.8 million tonnes grading an average 4.79% graphitic carbon, containing approximately 2.24 million tonnes of in-situ graphite. The study contemplated a 28-year processing life and total recovery of roughly 2.15 million tonnes of graphite concentrate averaging 97% carbon.
The economic estimates are substantial compared with Lomiko’s takeover valuation, although they remain study projections rather than guaranteed financial outcomes. Using a long-term graphite price assumption of US$1,524 per tonne, the PFS calculated an after-tax net present value of C$617.4 million at an 8% discount rate and an after-tax internal rate of return of 24.7%. Initial capital requirements were estimated at C$504.6 million. Average production over the mine life was modelled at approximately 79,600 tonnes of graphite concentrate annually, demonstrating both the project’s potential scale and the amount of financing still required before construction could realistically begin.
Canada and the U.S. Have Already Put Public Money Behind the Project
La Loutre has attracted government backing because graphite has become an important part of North American critical-mineral strategy. In 2024, Natural Resources Canada committed approximately C$4.94 million through its Critical Mineral Research, Development and Demonstration Program to support the upgrading of La Loutre graphite into battery-anode material. Federal records show the project is intended to advance processing technology toward commercial readiness rather than directly finance construction of the proposed mine.
The U.S. Department of Defense separately awarded Lomiko about US$8.3 million through the Defense Production Act Investments program. The Pentagon said the funding would support work including pre-feasibility studies, spherical graphite battery testing, value-added studies and a definitive feasibility study. Canada and the United States framed the investments as part of their effort to establish more resilient continental supplies of materials used in electric vehicles, defence equipment and other technologies. Importantly, these awards support research, engineering and development activities. They should not be confused with the much larger capital financing that would ultimately be needed to build La Loutre.
The Bigger Opportunity Is Turning Graphite Into Battery Material
Mining graphite is only one part of the battery supply chain. Before natural graphite can become active anode material, it requires multiple processing stages that can include concentration, micronization, spheroidization, purification and coating. Lomiko has therefore spent years testing whether material from La Loutre can meet the demanding specifications required by lithium-ion battery manufacturers rather than simply being sold into lower-value traditional graphite markets.
A major step came with the extraction of a roughly 200-metric-tonne bulk sample from La Loutre in 2025. Lomiko said the material would be processed through Quebec-based Corem to test an integrated route from flotation concentrate toward battery-grade material. Earlier laboratory testing also produced encouraging results: Lomiko reported that spherical natural graphite tested through a National Research Council-supported program delivered an average reversible capacity of 367 milliamp-hours per gram, with 99.9% coulombic efficiency after five cycles. Those results were preliminary, and larger-scale testing remains necessary, but they illustrate why downstream processing technology is central to GBM’s interest in the company.
Graphite Supply Remains Highly Concentrated in China
The strategic interest surrounding projects such as La Loutre becomes easier to understand when global supply concentration is considered. The International Energy Agency’s 2026 Critical Minerals Outlook says China accounts for more than 90% of global refining supply for graphite and several other strategically important materials. The U.S. Geological Survey separately estimated that China produced approximately 82% of the world’s natural graphite in 2025.
Processing concentration is particularly significant for batteries. The IEA warned in 2026 that graphite remains among the minerals with high exposure to supply disruptions because refining capacity, equipment expertise and downstream production are heavily concentrated. It estimated that a complete disruption of battery-grade graphite trade could place more than US$300 billion of annual downstream production outside China at risk. Meanwhile, graphite demand is expected to continue growing as electric vehicles, stationary energy storage and other battery applications expand. That backdrop explains why governments and private companies are spending money on alternatives even when individual mining projects remain years away from possible commercial production.
Local Opposition and Permitting Remain Major Considerations
The takeover changes Lomiko’s ownership if completed, but it does not remove the environmental, social and regulatory questions surrounding La Loutre. The project sits within the traditional territory of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation and near communities including Duhamel and Lac-des-Plages. Lomiko’s technical documentation says the project will require further permitting and environmental work as development progresses, while the 2026 PFS recommended moving into a feasibility study and continuing work toward an environmental impact study.
Community opposition has also been significant. Consultative referendums held in five nearby municipalities in August 2025 produced more than 90% opposition to the proposed mine, with organizers reporting a 95% “no” vote. The votes were not legally binding, but they demonstrated the scale of concern surrounding issues such as water, tourism, noise and the impacts of open-pit development. That creates a challenge a new owner cannot solve through a corporate transaction alone. GBM may inherit a strategically interesting graphite resource, but it also inherits the responsibility of navigating relationships with local communities, Indigenous interests and Quebec regulators.
Closing the Takeover Will Start a New Chapter, Not Finish the Story
If the remaining conditions are cleared and the transaction closes in October, Global Battery Materials will own 100% of Lomiko’s outstanding shares. GBM intends to have Lomiko’s shares delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange and to have the company apply to cease being a Canadian reporting issuer. For existing shareholders, that would effectively mark the end of Lomiko’s life as an independently traded junior mining company and deliver the agreed cash consideration.
The buyer would also gain more than La Loutre. Lomiko holds interests in seven earlier-stage graphite projects in southern Quebec—Ruisseau, Tremblant, Meloche, Boyd, Dieppe, North Low and Carmin—covering 328 exploration rights and approximately 18,622 hectares. It also has an optioned interest in the Yellow Fox critical-metals property in Newfoundland and Labrador. The immediate milestone is therefore corporate: completing the acquisition. The much longer challenge comes afterward. GBM would still need to advance engineering, processing tests, community engagement, environmental work and financing before La Loutre could move from a promising development-stage graphite deposit into an operating component of North America’s battery-material supply chain.
