Japanese battery material and petrochemical firm Mitsubishi Chemical (MCC) signed a non-binding initial agreement with graphite producer Renascor Resources to explore graphite offtake and further collaboration in the latter's Siviour project in south Australia.
The agreement, signed on 19 July, lays the ground for MCC to potentially purchase graphite concentrates, purified spherical graphite (PSG) and other graphite products from the Siviour project. MCC is also exploring collaboration to help facilitate development of the project through the agreement, according to Renascor.
The project aims to be vertically integrated and will consist of a graphite mine, concentrator and battery anode material manufacturing facility. The downstream manufacturing facility will use graphite concentrates from the Siviour site as feedstock to produce PSG for use in battery anodes. But details about the project completion timeline are not yet available.
The Siviour graphite deposit is currently the world's largest reported graphite reserve outside Africa, Renascor said. It likely contains 51.5mn t of ore reserves, at 7.4pc total graphitic carbon for 3.8mn t of contained graphite, with the firm expecting to release an updated mineral resource estimate in July-September.
Renascor in November received approval from the South Australian Department for Energy and Mining for the proposed mine and concentrator. The approval allows it to process up to 1.65mn t/yr of graphite ore, ultimately leading to production of up to 150,000 t/yr of graphite concentrates. It is now accelerating development for quicker commencement of first graphite concentrate production.
Renascor is concurrently completing a battery anode material study for the project, to explore raising the PSG production capacity at the manufacturing facility and its potential for additional expansion in stages. Renascor's studies so far suggest that the facility can produce 28,000 t/yr of PSG in Stage 1.
Renascor signed a non-binding initial agreement with South Korean conglomerate Posco in 2021 to supply 20,000-30,000 t/yr of PSG from the Siviour project.
