Posted on 06 Sep 2023
Australia’s Black Rock Mining has signed a non-binding MOU with POSCO International Corporation for long-term graphite fines offtake from Module 2 of the Mahenge project in Tanzania.
Under the agreement, the South Korean steelmaker will secure a long-term offtake of fines graphite from the planned production of Mahenge Module 2. In exchange, POSCO will make an additional $40 million investment or acquire a stake of up to 19.99% in Black Rock, whichever is lower.
The terms are subject to POSCO approval, with negotiations currently underway to secure a binding contract, the Australian firm says in a statement seen by Kallanish.
“We are extremely pleased to be further deepening our relationship with POSCO and we believe today’s announcement represents a strong endorsement of the promising future of the Mahenge graphite project,” says Black Rock chief executive John de Vries. “POSCO’s confirmed interest in Mahenge Module 2 also represents a major de-risking milestone for the company, providing increased confidence for all of our stakeholders, as well as improved visibility on funding and our pathway to production.”
Black Rock first entered into a “strategic alliance” with POSCO in June 2020 for the development of the Mahenge project, involving a $7.5m equity investment. The South Korean firm also inked an MOU for 6,000 tonnes/year of large flake graphite offtake from Module 1 in May this year (see related story).
Black Rock holds an 84% interest in the Mahenge project, with the remaining held by the government of Tanzania. The project has a resource estimate of 213 million tonnes at 7.8% total graphite content. According to its definitive feasibility study, the project can deliver up to 340,000 t/y of 98.5% graphite concentrate across 26 years.
POSCO, through its subsidiary POSCO Future M, expects to require 440,000 t/y of graphite concentrate for anode production in 2026 and 520,000 t/y in 2030. The company's anode growth expansion plan is targeting 218,000 t/y of anode materials production in 2026 and 370,000 t/y in 2030. Most of the projected production will be of natural graphite-based anode, followed by synthetic graphite anodes. Silicon-based anodes only account for 35,000 t/y of the 2030 projected capacity.
Source:Kallanish
