I have done a bit of research but take what I am about to say with a grain of salt because I don't claim to be an expert. This reply ended up being long-winded, so I cut some stuff out. But I hope this can clarify what EGR is doing and how it compares to Talga.
In the past, I have tried to seek some answers from a few EGR holders. But I couldn't get the answers I wanted, so I have taken the onus to do some research myself. To be honest, I am a pragmatist. If I believe EGR offers me better exposure to the battery thematic than Talga, I would happily reconsider my investment.
To begin with, it is not clear to me what EGR are producing. Are they making the active anode material, like Talga, which would be sold directly to battery OEMs? Or are they refining their graphite to some degree and then selling it to anode manufacturers? If I recall correctly, I looked into EGR back in January. From my understanding, they planned to mine graphite in Tanzania (at a mine less than half the grade of the Vittangi deposits), ship it to Perth to be purified, and then sell it (primarily) to Asian anode producers. If we look at their February 2021 investor presentation (ASX:EGR 12/02/21), they call their product "battery graphite." They then go on to clarify that "battery graphite is processed from natural flake graphite into a +99.95% high purity product suitable for anode manufacturing." So based on that, we can assume that EGR requires a middleman before their product is ready for batteries. The result is less vertical integration in comparison to Talga. In EGR's recent announcement concerning their plans in Skelleftea (ASX:EGR 02/08/21), they are now using the term "Battery Anode Material." Once again, I am not sure what they mean by this. But it seems like it will be similar to what they will be doing in Perth, i.e. refining graphite to sell to anode manufacturers.
As for their EGR's ESG credentials, EGR touts their hydrofluoric acid-free (HFfree) production process. Conversely, Talga also has its own hydrofluoric acid free production process (ASX:TLG 05/08/20). But funnily enough, it hardly gets any mention.
Furthermore, EGR main drawcard is their recycling capabilities. But from my understanding, this is yet to be tested in a battery. And as we should know by now, batteries and the materials that go into them are very precarious and have to be tested rigorously. As per the ЅhаreCafe presentation, Mark Thompson has said, "at the moment, there is no evidence that we've seen anywhere in the world that people can recycle carbon back into an anode for a battery. They can purify the carbon, but that is different from proving that it lithiates and makes a commercial anode again." This remains congruent with EGR's latest announcement concerning their recycling (ASX:EGR 27/07/21). They state that they have purified the recycled carbon to 99.98%. But are awaiting tests by a lithium-ion battery manufacturer to assess the potential of adding the material back into the supply chain. Mark Thompson also went onto say that Talga would look into this recycling themself, but he remained sceptical whether or not it was possible.
Another point on the ESG topic is that this graphite would somehow have to be transported from Sweden to Africa. One would assume that EGR would transport this via cargo ships powered by bunker fuel. Besides the fossil fuels in use, there are also environmental implications from the paint of these vessels damaging marine ecosystems — a problem which Talcoat aims to solve 
. I am not sure how the actual transport of ore would tie in with the proposed EU battery passport legislation. But Talga won't have such issues as they plan on moving their graphite from Vittangi to Lulea via electric trains (if I recall correctly).
As for the sovereign risk element, the comparison between EGR and TLG is obviously night and day. Tanzania seems relatively stable for the time being. And a lot of EGR investors are pointing to how the country and their new president is supposedly welcoming foreign investment. This is fine, and I understand that Africa isn't automatically a big red X for investing. But the real elephant in the room is China.
A quick Google search shows that China and the Tanzanian government have been trying to stitch up a $10bn port project together. With China believing that Tanzania is a strategic location to allow resources across the African continent to be shipped to China. If the EU, the US, and the West are looking to de-couple themselves from reliance on China. Which looks like a better investment, Tanzania or Sweden? Also, keep in mind that the EU and the US have declared natural graphite a critical resource.
Concerning my post, I don't want to slight any EGR holders. EcoGraf seems to be kicking a lot of goals. If they can realise their project, then it will do well as graphite demand will be so high. Like I said at the start, I am not sure that I have understood their business correctly. And I welcome any criticisms. But I think Talga is genuinely in a league of their own.
Another point of trivia, which I found amusing, is that Talga's office in Perth is only three offices down from EcoGraf's. So I am sure MT is well aware of them.
(20min delay)