Mineral Commodities to de-merge Norway’s graphite assets
ASX-listed Mineral Commodities has launched ambitious downstream processing plans for graphite from its Skaland graphite mine in Norway, with a decision to split its Norwegian assets into a separate entity. The new vehicle, Ascent Graphite, will be incorporated in Norway and will expand anode production for the European electric vehicle battery and energy storage markets through a factory proposal dedicated to active anode materials.
The move represents a major transition for the Perth-based graphite specialist who acquired the historic Skaland operation in 2019.
The company says the decision requires a sea change in investment over the next 18 months to support the production and qualification activities of lithium battery anode materials and the delivery of higher quality concentrates from a increased production. He says the timing of the expansion is driven by massive growth in battery cell manufacturing capacity in Europe.
The move follows a strategic review of Mineral Commodities’ operations that began in April this year. The review examined options for unlocking value and accessing financing for the Skaland graphite mine, including the Traelen mine which is intended for significantly increased production. The mine has been in operation for over 100 years and is the highest operating flake graphite mine in the world according to the company.
The review was prompted in part by Mineral Commodities’ ambitions for an environmentally friendly purification process to add value to its graphite production. He has obtained promising results this year in collaborative research with CSIRO in his laboratory in Perth.
The company says the strategic review found that the demerger of Norwegian graphite assets made strategic and operational sense and that creating a separate entity to focus on European graphite offered the best prospect of unlocking value from the operation.
Ascent Graphite will be incorporated in Norway and will have an independent board and operating structure focused on Europe. As a first step, Ascent will seek financing through an equity issue as part of a fundraiser. Mineral Commodities is considering listing Ascent on a European stock exchange but has not yet made a decision.
The executives of Key Mineral Commodities will occupy management positions in the new entity. David Baker, non-executive chairman of Mineral Commodities, will be appointed non-executive director of Ascent Graphite. Peter Fox, director of corporate development for the Mineral Commodities Group, will be CEO of Ascent. Dr Surinder Ghag will assume the role of Director of Development for Ascent and Christoph Frey will be Director of Operations.
Mineral Commodities’ Norwegian graphite assets are premium – located in a leading jurisdiction, with rapidly increasing demand for batteries. Our value generation is characterized by well-advanced studies and development plans, including for vertical integration. Skaland, as a licensed operating mine with its high grade ore and hydroelectric power, is ideally positioned to supply anode materials to Europe and the split will help speed up this process.
Mineral Commodities will retain its other major operations, including mining the Tormin mineral sands in South Africa and the majority-owned Munglinup graphite project in south-eastern Western Australia. The company is awaiting final environmental approvals for Munglinup near Esperance, Wash. Before developing the project as a low impurity source of natural flake graphite for the battery materials market.
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