EcoGraf soars on Posco deal

Battery materials business EcoGraf has scored an offtake with South Korea’s Posco, sending its shares up by more than 32 per cent.

Posco will be supplied with battery anode material from EcoGraf’s planned facilities in Rockingham and Europe, as part of the steelmaking giant’s plans to grow anode production.

Both companies will also enter a formal offtake agreement, as well as evaluate opportunities to cooperate on product development, battery anode recycling, and the development of EcoGraf’s batteries business.

News of the partnership sent EcoGraf’s shares up by 32 per cent, closing at 84 cents.

EcoGraf is building a $98 million facility in Rockingham where it will process spherical graphite, or battery-grade graphite, from its Epanko project in Tanzania.

The facility, awarded major project status from the state government in March, is expected to process 5,000 tonnes per annum, followed by a ramp-up to 20,000tpa.

The graphite product will be exported to manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries (used in electric vehicles) throughout Asia, Europe, and North America.

EcoGraf is waiting on further approvals from the state’s environment department and the City of Rockingham, expected in January.

The West Perth-based company will also build a processing facility in Europe, following stage one of the Rockingham plant, with an industrial site being assessed in Sweden.

That facility will use the same engineering design to produce 20,000tpa.