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BATTERY MINERALS PREVIEW registered anode material, Talnode-C, to the
Talga’s intention is to produce and sell a

emerging battery market

trucked to an anode refinery on the coast location in northern Europe should also carbon footprint is lithium-ion battery’s
where capacity will be 19,000 tpa of the prove attractive to customers eager to dirty, black secret.”
company’s registered Talnode-C anode find alternatives to China’s dominance of In contrast, Vittangi’s graphite has a
product. battery ingredient supply. low carbon footprint.
The initial stage will see mined mate- Thompson said the decision to pro- “Our project represents a clean alter-
rial toll-treated at a nearby facility for two duce an anode product had placed Talga native, because the graphite is made by
years to feed Stage 1 of the anode re- in direct contact with end-users in the the earth and is processed using hydro
finery to produce 2,500 tpa of Talnode-C European automotive industry who had power, meaning our emissions are close
before full-scale ramp-up for a capex of already shown interest in its production. to zero,” Thompson said.
$US27 million. Stage 2 capex is estimat- “Our product is very attractive to cus- Talga has opened discussions with
ed at $US147 million. tomers that are seeking alternatives to major carmakers and is busy building its
The PFS forecast production cash China,” he said. “China will continue to marketing network ahead of a decision
costs of $US1,852/t with independent dominate material on the global market to mine this year. Although it is too early
price assessment of the Talnode-C prod- but now it is becoming a net importer to announce any offtake arrangements,
uct estimated at $US11,250/t. and there is every chance it will consume Thompson said interest was strong.
“The current plan is to have an invest- all increased production, increasing the “The material will find a home with
ment decision on Stage 1 by the middle chances of supply chain shocks.” many customers depending on the char-
of 2020,” Thompson said. “Stage 1 will Questionable environmental outcomes acteristics required; i.e. energy, power,
be on a trial mining basis with toll pro- from Chinese anode production – both charge, temperature, etc,” he said. “We
cessing to a concentrate which is then from natural and synthetic sources – are talking to larger companies that
turned into anode material at the anode could also prove beneficial to Talga’s could underwrite bulk production but
refinery which will be commissioned in marketing of Talnode-C. want availability for different customers
Sweden in 2021. European carmakers are beginning to at different pricing structures. The large
“Before then, we have got a stockpile pick apart the EV supply chain to identify customers are capable of exerting a lot
on site from previous trial mining and will security and ethical soft spots. Thomp- of price influence on you because of the
look at toll-treating that to start producing son said anode material from Vittangi size and terms of their contracts.”
material for customers this year.” could satisfy on both points. Offtake contracts could bleed directly
Thompson said the simplicity of the “Some of the largest end-users, the into project financing arrangements.
mining operation allowed Talga to focus OEMs, have never been this far up- “We will have discussions with end-
much of its attention on the notoriously stream and some have only recently be- users on project finance but also traders
difficult activity of processing and mar- gun investigating the supply chain. They and bankers and EU-type funding utili-
keting. identified that 52% of CO2 emissions in ties,” Thompson said. “Investment banks
“The orebody is extremely consistent, an EV car is from battery and anode pro- such as Macquarie have also shown in-
there really isn’t much variability and it is duction is almost all of that. terest. However, it is not the most tradi-
consistently high grade,” he said. “There “They have only just discovered that tional project so may require novel ways
is no doubt about the project working at synthetic graphite is made from a pe- of funding.”
certain scales.” troleum product, and then shipped and
Predictability is also a positive in geo- processed using coal-fired power and – Dominic Piper
political terms. Not only is Sweden a they are only just realising the massive
Tier 1 mining jurisdiction but Vittangi’s carbon blow-out that’s giving them. The

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