TSX- and OTCQB-listed NextSource Materials has announced the appointment of Dr Tilo Hauke as downstream operations executive VP, effective October 1.
Hauke joins NextSource from US- and Norway-based lithium-ion battery cell developer Freyr Battery, where he served as supply chain management executive VP.
Prior to his role at Freyr Battery, Hauke spent 20 years at European carbon and graphite products manufacturer SGL Carbon, where he held various senior leadership positions including business line fuel cell components senior VP and technology and innovation group VP.
At NextSource, Hauke will oversee the company’s strategy to build multiple battery anode facilities (BAFs) for the production of commercial-scale graphite anode material for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles.
The company’s planned series of BAFs will be strategically located globally and leverage NextSource’s exclusive access to proprietary anode processing technology for the supply of anode active material to major electric vehicle automotive companies.
“I . . . welcome [Hauke] to NextSource to lead our global anode strategy as the company advances to becoming a vertically integrated large-scale producer of value-added graphite products.
“We are excited by the . . . opportunity presented by this rapidly growing market and the contribution [Hauke] can make to NextSource’s objective of becoming an integrated, global supplier of critical battery and technology materials,” NextSource president and CEO Craig Scherba said on August 12.
Hauke holds a PhD in solid state physics from the University of Halle-Wittenberg and an MBA from the University of Augsburg/Pittsburgh.
NextSource’s Molo graphite project, in Madagascar, has begun production, with Phase 1 mine operations currently being optimised to reach its nameplate production capacity of 17 000 t/y of graphite concentrate. 