What's also interesting is that export from Tanz shows no supply to the indicative purification facility here at Kwinana. It would make sense to prioritize supply to purification plants to be built in the US, Europe and Asia given that they will be close to gigafactories and in countries where greatest demand naturally exists. However, its prime time that the company threw some light on what the definitive plans are for our battery anode processing business. Sure, due to reasons of confidentiality, it would be remiss to divulge the precise locations being considered in the US, Asia and Europe, but just what is the plan for Kwinana if all offtake is to be taken up by the other proposed plants?
My thoughts are that Australia is many years away from having battery manufacturing taking place here and there are no graphite mines here yet either. Kwinana was clearly a stop-gap measure if and when the Tanz Govt properly opened its doors to international mining companies and investors. WIth that being said, I don't think that the engineering plans and costings that were undertaken for Kwinana will have been a waste. But I just don't why the AS doesn't offer a clearer perspective on the situation, when it is likely that the clarity will clear the air and potentially gain him some credibility.
IMO, it makes absolute sense to locate the mechanical shaping process in Tanz... and locating the plant in the hub of the mining area. Micronising the graphite greatly reduces the volumes needing to transported via road, rail and ship. The cost of building such a plant in Tanz could be a lot less expensive than in Australia too. If that is the case, then why not tell the market and its SH, FGS. It can't do any harm to communicate for the sake of clarity.
(20min delay)