NextSource Materials Inc. announced that commissioning of the Company's Molo Graphite Mine in Madagascar has been initiated and the installation of the solar and battery facility for the hybrid power plant is in progress. The hybrid power plant consists of a thermal generation facility, which is already in operation, and a solar and battery facility, consisting of a 2.6MW solar PV facility and a 1MWh battery energy storage system. The thermal facility currently supplies all of the plant's power requirement, and once completed, the solar and battery facility will provide up to 33% of the mine's total electricity needs using renewable energy.

NextSource is taking advantage of this tremendous market opportunity by creating a substantive niche for itself within the global lithium-ion battery supply chain through the commissioning of its first graphite mine and planned construction of its first Battery Anode Facility.' On February 28, 2023, the Company announced its global Battery Anode Facility (BAF)expansion strategy and the results of a technical study for its first BAF (BAF1) located in Mauritius. Mauritius was selected due to its close proximity to the Company's Molo Graphite Mine in Madagascar and its position on strategic shipping routes to key markets.

Front-end engineering and design and environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) permitting is now in progress, and the Company is in active discussions with strategic offtake partners and debt and equity financiers who have expressed an interest in funding the BAF1 construction. Subject to obtaining the necessary funding and completion of the ESIA process, the Company is targeting production from BAF1 in Second Quarter 2024. The global expansion strategy involves the staged construction of BAFs in key global jurisdictions to satisfy OEM demand in Asia, North America, Europe and the UK.

Each BAF will be capable of producing commercial volumes of coated, spherical and purified graphite (CSPG) for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicle (EV) applications. The BAF design is based on a proprietary and well-established processing technology currently supplying CSPG to major EV automotive companies.