Posted on 22 Feb 2023
Australia-listed Magnis Energy Technologies announced Tuesday a binding offtake agreement with Tesla for the supply of North American anode active materials (AAM), Kallanish reports.
The vertically integrated battery technology and materials company is planning to process its Tanzanian graphite concentrate in the US. The deal with Tesla, albeit conditional, has prompted the company to commence large-scale pilot plant development for both AAM and the Nachu graphite concentrate project “immediately,” it says.
The agreement covers the supply of at least 17,500 tonnes/year of AAM starting from February 2025 for a minimum of three years at a fixed price. Tesla has the option to increase offtake to up to 35,000 t/y.
The undisclosed deal is subject to Magnis securing a final location for its commercial AMM facility by 30 June. The pilot plant, which the company started ordering equipment for, must be producing AMM by the end of Q1 2024. Commercial AMM production in the US has to be reached by 1 February, 2025, and the product must pass customer qualification.
“We are really excited to bring our high performing AAM to market,” says Magnis chairman Frank Poullas, adding the product requires “no chemical or thermal purification throughout the whole process.”
Magnis claims its proprietary five-step graphite process is superior to the traditional industry process – it’s more sustainable, more price competitive, and comes from a non-China supply chain. The high purity graphite concentrate ore from the Nachu graphite feedstock, in southeast Tanzania, is produced with hydropower instead of diesel and old furnace technology. The process uses a selective mechanical purification process using technology from C4V, requiring no harsh chemical purification. The product requires low thermal treatment (<1000oC) compared to the traditional thermal purification with 2000+oC temperatures.
The Australian company says it is in the process of selecting a US location for the AAM facility, but has given no indication on where that might be.
Its US subsidiary Imperium3 New York has a 1.8-gigawatt-hour battery gigafactory in Endicott, New York. The facility is planned to reach 38 GWh capacity by 2030. Magnis’ technology partner C4V, which has developed the company’s technical aspects of AAM production using Nachu graphite concentrate, is also based in New York.
Source:Kallanish
