Posco to acquire stake in graphite project in Tanzania

Posco, South Korea’s biggest steel producer, is set to acquire a 15 percent stake in Australian graphite developer Black Rock Mining to secure an offtake right for up to 100 percent of graphite fine output from Mahenge graphite project in Tanzania, earning comfortable raw material supplies for its battery business.
Black Rock Mining disclosed that it has reached a conditional agreement with Posco to sell a 15 percent stake for $7.5 million.
Once the deal is finally approved, Posco would obtain the right to life-of-mine offtake supply of 100 percent of graphite fines from Mahenge Module One in Tanzania, plus the right to nominate a director to the board of Black Rock Mining.
The deal came amid Posco’s aggressive push to expand its presence in the downstream battery sector.
Its secondary battery materials making unit Posco Chemical that is currently capable of producing 44,000 tons of cathode materials per year plans to ramp up the capacity to 120,000 tons by 2023 and 260,000 tons by 2030.
Posco seeks to build a global supply chain for the secondary battery materials to establish an alternative to Chinese-sourced materials. It aims to reduce its reliance on Chinese products to below 50 percent in the mid- to long-term.