Renascor Resources is raising $60m to fast-track its Siviour graphite project, with the $205m project looking well-funded following an earlier large commitment from the federal Government.
The company will raise $50m through a placement, with oversubscriptions allowed, plus a share purchase plan for existing shareholders of up to $10m.
In February the federal government said it would provide a $185m loan to back the Siviour project on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, with the funding coming from the government’s recently-established $2bn Critical Minerals Facility.
The company says the Saviour deposit is the largest graphite resource outside of Africa, with total resources of 6.6 million tonnes of contained graphite.
Renascor plans to mine the graphite and then process it at a separate facility into purified spherical graphite, which is currently only produced in China.
Purified spherical graphite is a key material for the production of anodes in lithium ion batteries, and Renascor says it already has offtake agreements for 200 per cent of the anticipated stage one production with companies including Korea’s POSCO, Japan’s Hanwa Corporation, and Jiangxi Zhengtuo New Energy Technology & Minguang New Material from China.
The Siviour project is expected to produce 28,000 tonnes of purified spherical graphite per year, with the stage one ebitda forecast to come in at $US4.4bn over the life of the mine.
The project is expected to employ about 200 people once operational, and on current ore
reserves will run for 40 years.
Renascor managing director David Christensen told The Australian recently that studies were being progressed on a stage two expansion also.
“Next year we’d like to be well into construction,’’ he said. “Best case scenario we’re commissioning at the end of 2023 and getting up to full-scale production in 2024.’’
Renascor shares last traded at 31c, valuing the company at $591m.
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