On Monday, POSCO International Corp. declared that it has signed two preliminary agreements with a Canadian and an Australian mining company for the procurement of a significant secondary battery material from Africa.
As per the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NextSource Materials Inc. from Canada, POSCO International will jointly invest in Molo graphite mining run by the Canadian partner in Madagascar, according to a statement released by the general trading unit of POSCO Holdings Inc.
It is expected that this initial agreement will enable POSCO International to obtain 30,000 tons of natural graphite, or 15,000 tons of spherical graphite, yearly for 10 years.
The output will be supplied to POSCO Future M Co., the battery materials manufacturing branch of steel giant POSCO.
POSCO International also signed a separate MOU with Black Rock Mining Ltd., in which it will take part in the Australian miner’s rights offering and investigate a potential off-take deal to upsurge the graphite supply to 60,000 tons a year.
Thanks to the two deals, POSCO International said it expects to be able to form a regular supply chain for approximately 90,000 tons of graphite, a key material used to make anodes, one of the four core components in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.
Yoo Sam (L, front row), head of POSCO International's green materials department, signs documents with Craig Scherba (R, front row), chief of NextSource, in Antananarivo, the capital city of Madagascar, on Aug. 28, 2023, in this photo provided by POSCO International. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
From L to R, Greg Wheeler, chief commercial officer at Black Rock Mining; Alimiya Osman Munge, an executive of Faru Graphite Corp; and Kim Byung-hwi, vice president at POSCO International, pose for photo during a signing ceremony for the partnership on graphite supply, in Dar es Salaam, a coastal city in Tanzania, on Sept. 1, 2023, in this photo provided by POSCO International. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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