The company, which has Trevor St Baker as its biggest investor was selected last year by the US Government for a potential $US150 million grant to expand its production of synthetic graphite.

Burns told InQueensland that the company was close to contracting that.

However, the company’s fortunes on the market have tended to be driven by announcements and its share price has slumped almost 50 per cent this year to 72 cents.

“I think that our share price is a concern,’’ Burns said.

“The macroeconomic environment is very challenging for growth sectors. That doesn’t change the fact that we have a relatively strong balance sheet to push us towards our operational milestones and we continue to make really strong progress in terms of our position in north America.’’

Burns this week led an investor conference call and following that the share price jumped 2 per cent, but backtracked today falling 3.5 per cent.

The company recently struck a deal with LG, which signed up for $US30 million of unsecured convertible notes to LG Energy.

LG also holds an option to provide up to 50,000 tonnes of anode material over a 10-year period from the start of mass production.

“That’s a huge statement for them to be making an investment in the company,’’ Burns said.

He said LG was likely to be the biggest cell manufacturer in north American by the end of the decade.

He said a major objective this year had been around financing.

“We need to access capital to build out our Riverside (Tennessee) facility and future plants and a big part of that will be our work with the US Department of Energy both through the grants we were selected for in the bipartisan infrastructure laws which we hope to be able contract soon and also the applications we have with the loans programs office,’’ he said.

“We think we are progressing really well against out own internal milestones in the face of a very challenging macroeconomic environment.’’

Novonix has also proposed a further production facility at a cost of $US1 billion but Burns said that figure was not fixed.

“Everything depends on the size and technology. When we applied for our grant application (with the US Government) we announced a site that was potentially up to $US1 billion.

“There have been some challenges in understanding that application. It was for a 30,000 tonne site but with expansion and infrastructure to go to 75,000 tonnes and then we had contingincies.

“We see opportunities to bring those costs down.

“But these plants will still be hundreds of millions of dollars to build and this is why programs like the advanced technology vehicle manufacturing programs with the Loans Programs Office are so important because they can bring in up to 80 per cent leverage through their Treasury rate loan guarantees.’’