EcoGraf updates funding plans for Australian battery anode material project
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EcoGraf's first planned battery graphite production facility is set to be built in Western Australia. The company is also developing the Epanko graphite project in Tanzania.
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EcoGraf has announced funding updates for the development and future expansion of its planned Battery Anode Material Facility in Western Australia.
The company has confirmed that it will fund the initial phase of the project, near Perth, using existing cash reserves from the successful AUD 54.6m (£28.8m) institutional placement completed last February.
And Export Finance Australia – the federal government’s export credit agency – has pledged a conditional $35m (£25m) loan facility for the planned expansion of the facility after operations have been launched.
The facility will produce high purity battery anode material without the use of hydrofluoric acid (HF), instead using the company’s proprietary ‘HFfree’ purification process. EcoGraf plans to produce spherical graphite to sell directly to lithium-ion battery manufacturers.
The initial construction of the 5,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) commercial scale facility is expected to take 11 months, followed by commissioning and final product qualification. EcoGraf then plans a 12-month expansion program to achieve a production capacity of 20,000tpa.
EcoGraf said Export Finance Australia has issued a non-binding letter of support for the expansion programme, with any final commitment subject to "a number of conditions customary for a loan of this nature”.
Meanwhile, the company has revealed there are now three potential locations under evaluation for the development of another anode material facility in Europe, "following an approach from another European country”.
The company has confirmed that it will fund the initial phase of the project, near Perth, using existing cash reserves from the successful AUD 54.6m (£28.8m) institutional placement completed last February.
And Export Finance Australia – the federal government’s export credit agency – has pledged a conditional $35m (£25m) loan facility for the planned expansion of the facility after operations have been launched.
The facility will produce high purity battery anode material without the use of hydrofluoric acid (HF), instead using the company’s proprietary ‘HFfree’ purification process. EcoGraf plans to produce spherical graphite to sell directly to lithium-ion battery manufacturers.
Letter of support
The initial construction of the 5,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) commercial scale facility is expected to take 11 months, followed by commissioning and final product qualification. EcoGraf then plans a 12-month expansion program to achieve a production capacity of 20,000tpa.
EcoGraf said Export Finance Australia has issued a non-binding letter of support for the expansion programme, with any final commitment subject to "a number of conditions customary for a loan of this nature”.
Meanwhile, the company has revealed there are now three potential locations under evaluation for the development of another anode material facility in Europe, "following an approach from another European country”.
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