TIDMBEM
RNS Number : 9164Z
Beowulf Mining PLC
17 January 2024
The information contained within this announcement is deemed to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse
Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this
announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in
the public domain.
17 January 2024
Beowulf Mining Plc
("Beowulf" or the "Company")
Update for the development of Graphite Anode Materials Plant in
the GigaVaasa area
Beowulf (AIM: BEM; Spotlight: BEO), and its wholly owned Finnish
subsidiary Grafintec Oy ("Grafintec"), are pleased to provide an
update for the Graphite Anode Materials Plant ("GAMP") in the
GigaVaasa area.
Highlights
-- Updated strategy to fast-track full GAMP process to capture
more of the anode material production value-chain and provide
greater supply-chain security following the export controls imposed
by China on graphite materials in December 2023.
-- The full GAMP process consists of Spheronisation,
Purification and Coating to produce Coated Spherical Graphite
("CSPG") for sale to anode manufacturers.
-- Initially graphite concentrate will be sourced from third
parties but ultimately the intention is to develop the Company's
own deposits in Finland where preliminary metallurgical test-work
has returned very encouraging results.
-- An enhanced Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") on the full GAMP
process is expected to be concluded during 2024, building on the
PFS of the Coating stage of the process previously notified in July
2023 that demonstrated robust economics with a post-tax NPV(8) of
US$242 million and a post-tax IRR of 39%.
-- This enhanced PFS will be followed by a Definitive
Feasibility Study ("DFS") during 2025 with first production still
planned from 2027.
Ed Bowie, Chief Executive Officer of Beowulf, commented:
" Given the fast-moving nature of the global graphite market and
the increasing need for supply-chain security, the Company has
updated its development strategy for GAMP, fast-tracking the
development of the full processing facility. This updated strategy
builds on the PFS completed last year and, through capturing more
of the value-chain, is expected to improve the already excellent
economics. We look forward to updating the market with our ongoing
test-work results and progress with the PFS in due course."
Rasmus Blomqvist, Managing Director of Grafintec, commented:
"I am very pleased with the progress we have made over the last
12 months. While the timeline for the Environmental Impact
Assessment and PFS work has been extended due to Grafintec's change
in strategy, I am pleased that the overall timeline to production
will remain the same. Introducing the full process chain from the
start of production will significantly reduce our raw-materials
supply risk and is likely to improve the project economics."
GAMP Strategy Update
The development plan for GAMP, announced on 26(th) September
2023, considered a three-phase development with the initial phase
focused on the final processing stage in the production of graphite
anode materials, namely the Coating stage. The plan for Phase 1
envisaged the import of spherical graphite ("SPG") from third
parties, coating this material to produce 20,000 tonnes of anode
material per year of Coated Spherical Graphite ("CSPG") for sale to
anode manufacturers. Phase 2 of the development plan was to
incorporate the full process comprising three stages into the
plant. Graphite concentrate would be imported from third parties
and this would then be Spheronised, Purified and Coated, producing
20,000 tonnes per year of CSPG. Phase 3 of the original plan
envisaged an expansion of production to 60,000 tonnes per year of
product.
The updated strategy for GAMP is to build the three-stage
processing plant at the outset comprising Spheronisation,
Purification and Coating effectively bypassing the previous Phase
1. Graphite concentrate feed will initially be sourced from
third-party mines and the Company has letters of intent for this
supply. The GAMP will then process this material and produce 20,000
tonnes of CSPG per year for sale to anode manufacturers for the
battery industry. A future expansion to 60,000 tonnes per year of
CSPG is then planned.
Figure 1: Updated GAMP strategy
Rationale for the Update in Strategy
The update in the Company's strategy has been driven by two
principal factors. Firstly, the full process will capture a larger
portion of the value chain. While the full process will have a
higher initial capital cost than the Coating stage, which was
estimated at US$117 million in the PFS released in July 2023, the
full process is expected to be very value accretive, based on the
development studies of comparable projects in the market. The
updated GAMP plan is therefore also expected to be more attractive
for potential funding partners.
Secondly, the full process provides greater supply chain
security. China retains a significant market share in the
production of graphite materials for anodes and, in particular,
controls approximately 99% of global spherical graphite refining
capacity. In December 2023, the Chinese government announced export
controls on graphite products. While the full impact of these
controls is not yet known, they do highlight the current dependence
of the global battery industry on China. Graphite concentrate
sourced from mines outside of China is, by contrast, more readily
available and there are multiple potential sources. In line with
the objectives of the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act, the
Company's updated strategy seeks to mitigate the key supply chain
risks.
Revised Development Plan
The Technical workstream comprises the following:
-- The updated PFS technical workstream builds on the PFS
completed for the Coating plant released in July 2023 which
demonstrated robust preliminary economics with a post-tax NPV(8) of
US$242 million and a post-tax IRR of 39%.
-- Optimisation test-work and techno-economic studies of the full process are ongoing including state-of-the-art Spheronisation and chemical Purification technologies with our technology partner Dorfner Anzaplan GmbH ("Anzaplan").
-- On the conclusion of the PFS by end of 2024, the Definitive
Feasibility Study ("DFS") will be launched.
-- The DFS is expected to take six to nine months to complete,
and during this period, test-work will continue, generating product
for battery manufacturers to complete pre-qualification
testing.
The ongoing Environmental workstream comprises the
following:
-- As previously announced, Grafintec has appointed Finnish
Engineering Consultancy AFRY Finland Oy ("AFRY") to undertake the
Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA"). The EIA will reflect the
updated scope of the development plan and is aimed to be completed
by the end of 2024.
-- Following its submission, the local authority, the Centre for
Economic Development, Transport and the Environment ("ELY"), will
review the EIA before making a statement of their findings. The
review process by ELY is anticipated to take approximately three
months.
-- Following completion and submission of the EIA, work will
commence towards the Environmental Permit. The preparation of the
Environmental Permit application, which will take approximately six
months to compile, can partly be done as a parallel workstream with
the EIA with the aim to speed-up the overall process.
-- The Environmental Permit application is then submitted to the
Regional State Administrative Agency. The processing of the
Environmental Permit is expected to take approximately nine months,
with the final decision anticipated towards the end of 2025.
Figure 2: Updated GAMP timeline
The changes in Grafintec's development strategy will extend the
time for the ongoing EIA process and PFS to include the
Spheronisation and Purification process stages, however, the
overall timeline for the GAMP remains on track for first production
in 2027.
Sourcing Strategy Update
Grafintec initially plans to import natural graphite concentrate
from third parties to feed the GAMP, with the longer-term strategy
to be self-sufficient in raw-materials production from its 100%
owned domestic natural graphite projects.
Aitolampi is one of Europe's largest known natural flake
graphite resources with a reported Indicated and Inferred Mineral
Resource Estimate of 26.7 million tonnes at 4.8% Total Graphitic
Carbon ("TGC") for 1,275,000 tonnes of contained graphite (reported
in accordance with the 2012 JORC Code). Previous Spheronisation and
Purification test-work on Aitolampi graphite concentrate has proven
that a purified SPG that meets industrial standards can be produced
reaching a purity of minimum 99.95% TGC with low amounts of
detrital impurities.
Grafintec is also investigating possible synergies between
Aitolampi and Rääpysjärvi. Rääpysjärvi is an early-stage
exploration project located only eight kilometres to the
north-north-west of Aitolampi. Given their proximity, there are
anticipated to be synergies for future development of these two
sites, such as shared processing infrastructure. Previous results
from fieldwork and laboratory test-work confirmed large extensive
conductive zones associated with high-grade graphite (see
polaris.brighterir.com/public/beowulf_mining_plc/news/rns/story/x5gz62w
). Test-work from composite grab samples of boulders and outcrops
with a head grade of 19.8% TGC was tested by SGS Mineral Services
in Canada in 2017 producing a combined concentrate grade of 97.4%
TGC, with 18.8% in the large and jumbo flake fraction (+180
micron). The concentrate grades from the Rääpysjärvi composite
sample are similar to grades produced from Aitolampi drill core
samples indicating that Rääpsyjärvi graphite should also be a
suitable feed for anode materials production.
Enquiries:
Beowulf Mining plc
Ed Bowie, Chief Executive Officer ed.bowie@beowulfmining.com
SP Angel
(Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)
Ewan Leggat / Stuart Gledhill / Adam Cowl Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470
Alternative Resource Capital
(Joint Broker)
Alex Wood Tel: +44 (0) 20 7186 9004
BlytheRay
Tim Blythe / Megan Ray Tel: +44 (0) 20 7138 3204
About Beowulf Mining plc
Beowulf Mining is a mining company with main activities in
exploration and development in Sweden, Finland and Kosovo.
Beowulf's portfolio is diversified by commodity, geography and
stage of development of the projects and consists primarily of iron
ore, graphite, gold and base metals. Beowulf Mining is
headquartered in London, England.
Cautionary Statement
Statements and assumptions made in this document with respect to
the Company's current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs, and
other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking
statements about the future performance of Beowulf. Forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, those using words such
as "may", "might", "seeks", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates",
"believes", "projects", "plans", strategy", "forecast" and similar
expressions. These statements reflect management's expectations and
assumptions in light of currently available information. They are
subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not
limited to , (i) changes in the economic, regulatory and political
environments in the countries where Beowulf operates; (ii) changes
relating to the geological information available in respect of the
various projects undertaken; (iii) Beowulf's continued ability to
secure enough financing to carry on its operations as a going
concern; (iv) the success of its potential joint ventures and
alliances, if any; (v) metal prices, particularly as regards iron
ore. In the light of the many risks and uncertainties surrounding
any mineral project at an early stage of its development, the
actual results could differ materially from those presented and
forecast in this document. Beowulf assumes no unconditional
obligation to immediately update any such statements and/or
forecast.
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