Australia's Black Rock expands graphite deal with Posco

Australian firm Black Rock Mining has expanded its graphite offtake partnership with South Korean conglomerate Posco.

The Perth-based firm has entered into an initial agreement with Posco for the supply of 6,000 t/yr of natural large flake graphite concentrate from its Mahenge project in Tanzania. Negotiations will take place on terms and specifications for a binding offtake agreement. Black Rock and Posco have already entered into a supply agreement regarding fines material from the project.

Construction-ready Mahenge is one of the world's largest natural graphite deposits with a mineral resource of 213mn t grading 7.8pc total graphitic content (TGC) and a reserve of 70mn t grading 8.5pc TGC, supporting output of 350,000 t/yr of concentrate for 16 years.

Black Rock's expanded relationship with Posco, a major producer of anode material for the electric vehicle battery market, will assist it in de-risking debt funding for the $182mn first module of the project.

By Angus MacMillan