The approvals process of the investment agreement between graphite producer Evolution Energy Minerals and battery anode producer BTR New Material Group is nearing completion, with final approval expected on January 31.
The agreement was originally announced in August 2023. It involved BTR agreeing to subscribe for shares representing 9.90 per cent of Evolution, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions, including completion of due diligence to BTR’s satisfaction, on or before January 31.
Evolution has now announced that its chair Henk Ludik and managing director Phil Hoskins spent the first week of January in China with BTR to present additional information to facilitate BTR’s investment decision.
“Evolution has not been notified of any issues with BTR’s due diligence and following recent discussions, the directors remain confident that the BTR’s investment in Evolution will proceed,” the company said.
It was originally anticipated that all other conditions of the agreement would be met by Evolution’s shareholder meeting on January 8.
Alongside the strategic investment agreement, Evolution and BTR also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and a binding offtake agreement in August last year.
The MoU covered a proposed downstream processing collaboration between BTR and Evolution to produce battery anode materials and BTR’s participation in the financing of the Chilalo graphite project in southeast Tanzania.
The binding offtake agreement concerned 100 per cent of the Chilalo project’s fine flake graphite for three years, with an option to extend for a further three years.
These arrangements between Evolution and BTR are expected, upon completion, to position Evolution as a vertically integrated producer of lithium-ion battery anode materials.
Subscribe to Australian Mining and receive the latest news on product announcements, industry developments, commodities and more.