Talga Group: Is this the most serious graphite project out there?
Talga Group Managing Director Mark Thompson on 3AW & 2GB Bulls N' Bears Report
Listen to ASX-listed Talga Group Managing Director Mark Thompson talk to Matt Birney on the Bulls N’ Bears Report about Talga’s plan to mix its lithium battery anode technology with its huge graphite resource to create a fully integrated graphite house that will stand the test of time.
TO LISTEN TO THE TALGA GROUP AUDIO INTERVIEW - CLICK BELOW
Talga Group is unique. It owns the largest graphite resource in Europe that boasts some extraordinary grades and the company has also been rapidly ticking off major milestones as it seeks to use its own in-ground graphite to make lithium battery anodes in northern Sweden. The company’s Vittangi anode project will use 100 per cent renewable electricity to produce so-called “green” lithium battery anodes for Europe’s burgeoning electric vehicle industry.
RADIO INTERVIEW - TRANSCRIPT
Matt Birney - Welcome to Bulls N' Bears brought to you today by graphite developer and technologist, Talga Group
Matt Birney - ASX code: TLG
Matt Birney - I'm Matt Birney and I'm joined now by the Managing Director of Talga Group, Mark Thompson.
Matt Birney - Hi Mark
Mark Thompson - Hi Matt
Matt Birney - Okay Mark I want to get into Talga's plans to build a lithium battery anode factory in Sweden in a minute but firstly just how big is your in-ground graphite resource in Sweden now?
Matt Birney - The main project at Vittangi there is about 37 million tonnes at 23 per cent graphite.
Matt Birney - So Talga as I understand has developed technology to manufacture anodes for lithium batteries that will be packed full of your own graphite, are there any performance considerations involved in making anodes or is an anode an anode?
Mark Thompson - No anodes are very complicated actually, the way they work in a battery. Our anode which is called Talnode-C is particularly high energy density and it's very good at fast charging so it's got some good advantages for use in EV batteries.
Matt Birney - What's the proximity of your proposed Vittangi graphite mine to the anode manufacturing facility?
Mark Thompson - The mine is up country and it's about 250 kilometers truck or rail down to the port of Luleå where the refinery will be built.
Matt Birney - Now Sweden, how hard is it to get these things permitted in a place like Sweden?
Mark Thompson - Very difficult but fortunately we've had some big wins there recently and after a lot of work, we've recently received environmental permits for both the mine and the refinery.
Matt Birney - I'm guessing it's going to be a big project in combination, how will you fund it?
Mark Thompson - Yeah the the DFS showed that it had a CapEx of about $500 million US but we've had some success recently with the European Investment Bank which is a part of the EU.
Mark Thompson - They've approved €150 million euros debt funding for the project as a starter on that so that's going a long way.
Matt Birney - How many different graphite deposits have you got in Sweden? What's the total global resource?
Mark Thompson - Got two more deposits there so collectively they total about 70 million tonnes of ore at about 18 per cent graphite which is the, far and away, the largest graphite resources in all of Europe.
Matt Birney - Very quickly how much money will this thing make a year and for how long?
Mark Thompson - $170 million US every year for 24 years.
Matt Birney - Mark Thompson from Talga Group.
Matt Birney - Thanks for joining me on Bulls N' Bears and remember we're here to give you information not advice which you should of course seek independently.
Matt Birney - Matt Birney and this is Bulls N' Bears
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