TSX-listed NextSource Materials has signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South Korean trading company POSCO to collaborate with each other.
NextSource, which owns and operates the Molo mine, in Madagascar, notes that this may involve an equity investment by POSCO in NextSource, as well as the signing of a long-term offtake agreement for spheronised and purified graphite (SPG).
Subject to the outcome of certain customary technical and economic studies, the company may enter into a definitive offtake agreement for 30 000 t/y of SuperFlake graphite concentrate and 10 000 t/y to 15 000 t/y of SPG over a ten-year period.
The SuperFlake and SPG will be supplied to POSCO Future M – a POSCO Group subsidiary that is responsible for electric vehicle battery businesses and that supplies all of South Korea’s major battery cell manufacturers with finished cathode and anode materials.
“Exploring the potential for a strategic partnership with one of the world’s largest suppliers of anodes to western cell manufacturers and original-equipment manufacturers is a tremendous opportunity. We look forward to working with POSCO to advance the MoU,” NextSource president and CEO Craig Scherba comments.
