General Discussions, page-21609

I don't think we should be at the mercy of multinationals. If the story around graphite shortage is true and evident, as I believe it is, well RNU is on the right position to dictate (just like LTR emerged in the lithium space). RNU should be in the position to get its binding offtakes - that is it should be doing a bidding war for its product btw given the impending graphite shortage - and basically get its ass into gear and get to production. It needs the binding offtakes to finalise its funding and thus get to production. Been too perfect and not aggressive enough equals delay.

My personal view is we start off with concentrate for a short whle before we get the PSG facilitie sup. Getting to production is the key here. I am bullish on graphite and it is why I invested in RNU back in Jan 2021. If anyone wants to understand my views on graphite, which I also posted elesehwere, open the following embedded posts and have a read.

1. Understanding graphite and graphite grade:Post #:51768438 This embedded post gives explanation around PSG and synthetic graphite and the mix in batteries, and how much graphite is in a battery. As well as what is economic in a TGC framework.

2. Input cost of lithium in batteries: Post #:66330003 This post explains how much value lithium has in a battery.

3. Input cost of graphite in batteries: Post #:66724229andPost #:66719548 These posts do the apple to apple conversions so one can understand the input cost of graphite in batteries, compared to lithium. It is much lower than lithium.

4. Lithium and graphite demand shortfall:Post #:65496507andPost #:66083006 These posts show the number of new graphite and lithium mines required to meet forecast EV demand. These are my own calculations and converting data, and the simple answwer is a bucket load of new mines are requied. For the record you need 0.9 kg LCE and about 1kg graphite per kWh for each EV battery (depending on type). Here is a picture of what I mean in terms of EVs and how transitions to graphite and lithium demand.




5. This post is about China's poor quality resource, hence why I agree - Post #:51384197

6. The possible BAM and why I think they will start with concentrate - Post #: 65498108

I can say one thing that has been surprising me is the price of graphite and why it has not risen by as much as lithium. It has probably got to do with IMO the input cost of graphite compared to lithium in batteries, but I do expect graphite prices to take off as the shortfalls become apparent and China actually understand the environmental cost of constantly processing poor quality graphite or using a greater than 50% share of synthetic graphite in batteries. Maybe China doesn't care around the environmental cost and CO2 cost of producing synthetic graphite (since its production is energy intensive) or the environmental cost of producing concentrate/PSG from poor quality graphite, but I suspect it will in due course.

There is a cost saving of not using synthetic graphite to EV producers, despite the cost of graphite in batteries not been as significant as lithium, but it is in the environmental benefits of replacing synthetic graphite that the benefits come from IMO IMO IMO - referWhat Is Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing? (investopedia.com).

Ultimately Europe/USA/Japan/Korea do care around ESG -What is ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance)? (corporatefinanceinstitute.com)- so they are the markets prospective graphite prodcuers should initially be targeting IMO IMO. If people are going to harp on about environmental issues, then producing EVs as environmentally freindly as possible is the key. And to repeat there is still a cost saving to EV battery makers andcar producers of using good quality graphite concentrate in producing PSG for EV applications.

Given cost, one thing for sure, graphite will not IMO be transitioned out of EV batteries anytime soon - it is a low cost material so it will remain in batteries IMO. And as we know the anode in the battery is graphite.

All IMO