Northern Graphite says its proposal to upgrade graphite from the Okanjande project into Battery Anode Material in France has been selected as one of 47 Strategic Projects under the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act.
Northern Graphite’s Frankfurt-based Battery Materials Division submitted the proposal last year to take battery-grade graphite from its Okanjande project and upgrade it into Battery Anode Material in a facility in France at a cost of some about N$3 billion (€159 million/ C$244 million).
Under the project’s scope, pre-purification, milling and shaping of the graphite would occur in Namibia and purification and coating would arise in a new plant in France.
Battery testing would take place at NGCBM’s laboratory in Germany.
The mining of graphite at Okanjande is not covered under the scope of the Strategic Project.
The Strategic Projects cover 14 of the 17 strategic raw materials listed in the CRMA, including lithium (22 projects), nickel (12 projects), cobalt (10 projects), manganese (7 projects) and graphite (11 projects), which will mainly benefit the EU battery raw material value chain.
The designation by the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, qualifies the Okanjande project for fast-tracked permitting and funding support to boost Europe’s strategic raw material capacities and diversify its sources of supply.
Northern Graphite’s France BAM project is targeted to begin operations by 2028 with an initial capacity of 20,000 tons per year of battery-grade anode material, with the potential to scale up to 50,000 tons.
Northern Graphite is currently in active discussions with potential off-take partners for the initial production.
