- BlackEarth Minerals (BEM) signs offtake and sales deal with an Austrian graphite company
- Grafitbergbau Kaisersberg commits to buying up to 2500 tonnes of expandable graphite per year for an annual price of around US$7.5 million (A$9.9 million)
- The graphite is being sourced from BlackEarth and the Metachem Manufacturing Company’s proposed expandable graphite plant in India, which the two companies are currently developing
- BlackEarth considers this deal a major endorsement to its plans of becoming a significant producer of graphite products which are in a growing demand
- Company shares are up 12.2 per cent to trade at 11 cents at 11:43 am AEST
BlackEarth Minerals (BEM) has signed an offtake and sales agreement with Austria-based graphite company Grafitbergbau Kaisersberg.
Under this deal, BlackEarth and its recent partner Metachem Manufacturing Company will sell up to 2500 tonnes of expandable graphite per year to Grafitbergbau for an annual price of around US$7.5 million (A$9.9 million).
The graphite will be sourced from BlackEarth and Metachem’s proposed expandable graphite plant once they have completed developing it.
With over 50 years in operation, Grafitbergbau is considered an industry leader across Europe with an extensive supply chain to tier one companies and the electric vehicle (EV) sector.
For decades it has created high-quality graphite downstream and niche products for the national and international markets. Moreover, it has an extensive share of the supply of expandable graphite into the growing European market and will use the acquired product from BlackEarth and Metachem to make specific applications and materials for their clients.
In terms of usage, about 35 per cent of expandable graphite production is processed into fire retardants. The remaining product is processed into flexible graphite which is the precursor to end products such as graphite foils which are used in the automotive, EV and alternative energy sectors.
“By making this commitment to buy our product in the future, Grafitbergbau has shown enormous confidence in BlackEarth and Metachem and not only is this an endorsement of the expandable graphite produced by Metachem and what is proposed, the agreement also ensures we now have commitments in advance for our future production in India,” BlackEarth Minerals Managing Director Tom Revy said.
The proposed graphite plant will be located in India and is aimed at meeting the rising demand for graphite concentrate and downstream graphite products.
For context, the global expandable graphite market is expected to grow from US$202.8 million (A$270 million) in 2020 to around US$351.9 million (A$468.5 million) by 2027.
The deal was facilitated by BlackEarth Minerals’ sales and marketing partners, LuxCarbon, and is expected to be the first of a number of planned offtake and supply agreements.
Company shares were up 12.2 per cent to trade at 11 cents at 11:43 am AEST.