EcoGraf (ASX: EGR, Germany: FMK) is now also involved in gold! The company, which of course continues to focus primarily on its graphite activities, announced early this morning that the prospecting licenses for the Golden Eagle gold project in Tanzania have now been officially granted. With this step, EcoGraf fulfills a key requirement for an already announced farm-in deal with the gold industry giant AngloGold Ashanti – paving the way for an exploration program worth up to US$9 million on a large-scale, structurally promising gold property!
As mentioned, EcoGraf’s focus remains on the Epanko graphite project and the development of a vertically integrated business segment for hydrofluoric acid-free production of battery anode material for the lithium-ion market. With Golden Eagle, however, the company secures an additional lever on the gold price and potential new discoveries without significantly burdening its own balance sheet.
EcoGraf: Green light for Golden Eagle gold project after license award
With the granting of the three Prospecting Licenses PL 13700/2025, PL 13701/2025 and PL 13702/2025 by the Tanzanian Ministry of Minerals, the Golden Eagle project is now formally set up. The properties cover a total of approximately 575 km² and were approved on December 16, 2025. This means that the farm-in agreement with AngloGold Ashanti Holdings plc, a subsidiary of AngloGold Ashanti Plc (NYSE: AU; JSE: ANG), will officially come into effect.
The Golden Eagle gold project is located on the eastern edge of the world-renowned Lake Victoria Goldfields, an Archaean gold belt with more than 70 million ounces of historical gold production. It is particularly worth mentioning that the project lies in the same structural corridor as the historical Golden Pride mine with 3.4 million ounces of gold. In addition, the licenses cover the interpreted northeastern continuation of a banded iron formation (BIF) that hosts the high-grade Winston gold deposit – where, among other things, 16 meters with 55.23 g/t gold from a depth of 116 meters were reported.
Several shear and fault zones run within the Golden Eagle property, cutting through the BIF units. EcoGraf refers to a number of gold targets that have so far been little or not at all drilled, which are to be systematically investigated in the future.
AngloGold Ashanti brings Tanzania know-how to Golden Eagle
The so-called farm-in agreement stipulates that AngloGold Ashanti will acquire up to 70% of the Golden Eagle licenses through exploration expenditures totaling US$9.0 million over five years. Upon reaching the earn-in conditions, EcoGraf retains a 30% stake and thus a substantial participation in a possible gold mine project, without having to bear the main burden of exploration financing itself.
AngloGold Ashanti is one of the largest gold producers in the world and operates the largest gold mine in Tanzania with the Geita mine, which delivered around 483,000 ounces of gold in 2024. The investments in Golden Eagle are made via Geita Greenfields Mineral Exploration Ltd. and are part of a strategic restart of the group’s Greenfield exploration in Tanzania. Golden Eagle acts as the first joint project under this new focus.
To support the activities, AngloGold Ashanti has set up its own exploration office in the capital Dodoma. EcoGraf expects that the partner’s extensive regional experience in the exploration and development of gold deposits will be directly incorporated into the planning and implementation of work on Golden Eagle.
EcoGraf: Gold project as a complement to the graphite and battery strategy
Despite the current news surrounding the Golden Eagle gold project, EcoGraf’s central focus remains clear: The focus is on the Epanko graphite project in Tanzania, which is intended to supply natural flake graphite and high-purity graphite products, including for German industry and the global market for lithium-ion batteries. The company is working in parallel on a hydrofluoric acid-free battery anode material technology that is geared towards the growing demand from the battery and electromobility industry.
The farm-in with AngloGold Ashanti is structured in such a way that EcoGraf can leverage value for shareholders from non-core gold assets and at the same time participate in the potential of a gold deposit. The participation in Golden Eagle enables the company to participate in the exploration of a potential large-scale project, while management and capital planning focus primarily on Epanko and the battery anode sector.
In addition to gold, EcoGraf holds further exploration projects on nickel and lithium in Tanzania. The company classifies the Northern Frontier project in particular as an area with considerable exploration potential for nickel and lithium mineralization. EcoGraf thus has a diversified portfolio of raw materials that are important both for classic precious metal investment and for the energy transition.
Golden Pride experience and further exploration levers in Tanzania
A historical reference for EcoGraf is the Golden Pride gold mine, which is also located in the Lake Victoria gold belt. The 3.4 million ounce operation was the first modern, large-volume gold mine in Tanzania and ran from 1999 for more than 15 years. EcoGraf’s Chairman and the company’s Managing Director were instrumental in this project. Golden Pride received the first Tanzanian Presidential Award for Environmental Excellence and Leadership and is considered a showcase project for responsible closure and subsequent use of mining sites – for example in the areas of education, water management and landscape renaturation.
Against this background, EcoGraf considers the Golden Eagle gold project to be a geologically favorable position for the possible reproduction of Golden Pride-like gold mineralization within the same structural corridor. The project licenses are held via the wholly owned subsidiaries Innogy Pty Ltd and Frontier Minerals (TZ) Limited.
Parallel to securing the Golden Eagle licenses, EcoGraf has reviewed the gold prospectivity of its other projects in Tanzania. According to the company, initial field programs indicate significant gold targets and additional exploration opportunities even outside of Golden Eagle.
With the AngloGold farm-in now starting, the anchoring of the Golden Eagle gold project in one of the most productive gold belts in East Africa and the parallel development of the Epanko graphite project, EcoGraf is positioning itself at the interface between classic gold mining and the raw materials of the energy transition. This creates a raw material profile for the market that addresses both the long-term trend towards gold as a store of value and the structural needs of battery and energy technology – without EcoGraf deviating from its core strategy in the graphite and battery material segment.
