Ann: ThyssenKrupp signs Offtake LOI for 20,000tpa, page-68

Good find mate.

Here's a few para's from Alastair Ford's article - dated 29 Oct 2014

The first is that unlike some companies riding the ongoing Australian graphite boom, Kibaran has actually lined up buyers for its product. This underlines a key point made by the company that its flake size rather than grade which is king.

This may run counterintuitive to those involved in investing elsewhere in the sector, but it’s all about processing economics and the end use. Larger flakes are easier to liberate from the host rock and therefore require less crushing and grinding prior to mineral separation.

Flakes ranging in size between 250µm and 1mm will command the highest prices, and are especially suited for use in lithium batteries and other green energy applications.

That all means that any graphite company talking about size of resource, or more particularly grade, in terms of total graphitic carbon (TGC), is only telling half the story. The other half is: does anyone actually want the product?

In Kibaran’s case, even though its two projects Epanko and Merelani are still relatively early stage, the answer has been a resounding yes.

In Thyssen-Krupp, the company has secured on of the great manufacturing combines of the world as a customer. But it’s also signed a binding off-take agreement with a major European graphite trader for a further 10,000 tonnes over an initial five year period, the first deal of its kind for an Aussie graphite company.

Taken together, the two deals remove once and for all any doubt about the marketability of product from Epanko, and put Kibaran some way ahead of the junior graphite pack.