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Talga Group (ASX:TLG) charges up for 2021

Materials
ASX:TLG      MCAP $281.0M
01 February 2021 13:30 (AEST)
Talga Resources (ASX:TLG) - Managing Director, Mark Thompson

Source: ABC

Talga Group (TLG) looks prepared for the year ahead after reporting a plethora of operational and corporate updates from the December 2020 quarter.

Projects

The battery anode company appears to have wooed a number of project development partners over the period, most notably in the form of a non-binding letter of intent with Swedish mining company LKAB and Japanese multinational Mitsui & Co.

The three parties are set to work on Talga’s Vittangi Anode Project, a scalable coated anode production facility and integrated graphite mining operations in northern Sweden.

Talga also signed a memorandum of understanding with global technology comany ABB to develop and coordinate an extensive suite of production control and process solutions.

While these agreements are not yet set in stone, general sentiment from TLG appears to be one of excitement for the upcoming year.

TLG has flagged an anticipated 2023 operational commencement date for the Vittangi Anode facility.

A stand-alone scoping study was also conducted for a potential expansion at the project, or the Niska production, opening the door to a potentially significant future anode production capacity.

Should this go ahead as planned in 2025, TLG says it would form the largest natural graphite anode producer in the world and largest anode producer outside China when combined with the existing Vittangi Anode Project operation.

Corporate and finance

Maintaining the theme of new partnerships over the period, Talga also appointed global financial services firm Morgan Stanley as its financial and transaction adviser.

A company statement attests Morgan Stanley will assist in evaluating the “myriad opportunities” emerging from Talga’s ongoing partnership, with strong commercial relationships across Talga’s existing and potential development partners.

The ASX-lister also tapped investors for $25 million via a share placement during the quarter in a bid to fund construction of Talga’s electric vehicle anode.

Concurrently, Talga offered investors the opportunity to participate in a share purchase plan. Initially seeking to raise $10 million, the placement closed heavily oversubscribed and was increased to roughly $30 million.

In terms of liquid assets, Talga is sitting with $32.4 million in cash and equivalents, which should see it through just shy of the next eight quarters based on current spending levels.

Investors appear to have responded favourably to the announcement, with Talga shares trading 8.27 per cent higher at $.51 each at 12:19 am AEDT.

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