Not even the first stage of the new EcoGraf™ battery anode materials plant in Australia has been built yet, and EcoGraf Limited (ASX: EGR, FRAG: FMK) is already securing financing for the expansion. The company announced today that the Australian Export Credit Agency, comparable to Germany’s KfW, has committed to a $35 million loan to fund the expansion.
EcoGraf has received a letter of support from Export Finance Australia to this effect. While the commitment is not yet formally binding, the final funding commitment is subject to “customary conditions” that EcoGraf can and will meet. The most important condition is the construction of a starter plant with a capacity of 5,000 tons per year, and that is what EcoGraf is planning anyway.
EcoGraf will fund the first phase of the development with its existing cash reserves from the A$54.6 million institutional placement successfully completed in February 2021, while the expansion phase will be funded through a combination of cash reserves and debt.
The new state-of-the-art facility will produce high-purity battery anode material using the company’s proprietary EcoGraf™ HF-free purification process for export to battery markets in Asia, Europe and North America. The initial timeframe for construction of the 5,000 tpa commercial plant is 11 months, followed by commissioning and final product qualification. The company then plans a 12-month expansion program to reach a production level of 20,000 tpa.
The bottom line is that Australia wants to play a leading role in the transition to clean energy, but not just as a feedstock country, but also in the production of higher value-added feedstocks. There is even a separate government initiative for this, the “Critical Minerals Strategy”. Therefore, the support of the Australian Export Credit Agency is only logical. If you want a sustainable supply chain for lithium-ion batteries, you can’t get around EcoGraf’s technology. It cannot be said often enough: It will be the first plant of its kind in the world that can refine raw graphite into high-quality anode graphite without the use of environmentally harmful hydrofluoric acid. The recycling capabilities are on top of that. It is hard to imagine that it will remain a single plant of this kind, because even if 25,000 metric tons of graphite per year are later processed, that is only a tiny fraction of the total market. The vast majority of anode graphite would continue to come from China and from processing with hydrofluoric acid. Is that what the automotive industry wants? Maybe EcoGraf’s plant will get children elsewhere in the world? We will see.
{letter}
Disclaimer: GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH offers editors, agencies and companies the opportunity to publish commentaries, analyses and news on http://www.goldinvest.de. This content serves exclusively to inform the readers and does not represent any kind of call to action, neither explicitly nor implicitly, and is not to be understood as an assurance of any price development. Furthermore, it does not in any way replace individual expert investment advice and does not constitute an offer to sell the share(s) discussed or a solicitation to buy or sell securities. This is expressly not a financial analysis, but an advertising / journalistic text. Readers who make investment decisions or carry out transactions on the basis of the information provided here do so entirely at their own risk. No contractual relationship is established between GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH and its readers or the users of its offerings, as our information only relates to the company and not to the reader’s investment decision.
The purchase of securities involves high risks which can lead to the complete loss of the capital invested. The information published by GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH and its authors is based on careful research. Nevertheless, any liability for financial losses or the guarantee of the topicality, correctness, adequacy and completeness of the articles offered here is expressly excluded.
In accordance with §34b WpHG and § 48f Abs. 5 BörseG (Austria) we would like to point out that GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH and/or partners, principals or employees of GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH hold shares in EcoGraf Ltd. and therefore a conflict of interest exists. GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH also reserves the right to buy or sell shares in the company at any time. Furthermore, a contractual relationship exists between EcoGraf Ltd. and GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH which involves GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH reporting on EcoGraf Ltd.. This is another clear conflict of interest.
