The purpose of this post to set out the case for the inevitable and imminent granting of permits for Talga Group. First my thanks to
@zoulou ,
@Zappos,
@WheresTheMonkey,
@cat dog, plus many others for your informative posts I am attempting to bring thoughts together under one post.
Background
1. Globally many pronouncements confirm the death of the ICE for cars, trucks, trains, boats etc. With a model life between 8 to 15 years. That means there will be very few if any ice models being launched. The industry is dying. Europe employs 2.6m people in the industry.
2. Under the auspices of Maros Sefcovic there is a massive drive across Europe to decarbonise transport, power generation, food production, including the replacement of all plastics in packaging.
3. Sweden has been required to identify critical raw materials including Graphite under European legislation
4. Talga Graphite and Cobalt have been designated as being of strategic national interest.
5. To qualify as strategic the resource must have no national competitor, be usable over 50 to 100 years and identifiable. Taiga Graphite qualifies
6. Talga’s September newsletter states they are answering and clarifying questions regarding permits at present. SGU recently have pronounced that recycling is important for them. Read this https://www.sgu.se/om-sgu/nyheter/2021/september/sgu-lyfter-vikten-av-hallbara-mineral-och-ravaror-for-en-hallbar-vardekedja-for-batterier/?acceptCookies=true
7. Mark Thompson has in the past said he was not aware of any way of recycling anodes for batteries BUT recently stated they could be recycled fro “Carberisers “ I have no idea what that means.
8. In the recent Rhomotion presentation BMI stated that ex China Anode/Graphite supply was almost exclusively represented by Syrah and Talga. Syrah 5 minutes later confirmed that 80% of their output was committed to China. That leaves TLG who have confirmed that only 30% of their demand is from Europe ( the basis of this can be debated).
9. It is because of 8. above that Talga Graphite MAY have been identified as Globally significant in the battery supply chain in 2020. This is to some extent confirmed by its demand profile revealed in the recent quarterly.
10. Since TLG has confirmed they are in discussions with just about every auto OEM, battery manufacturer and Norway and the UK already in advanced discussion through Fryer, BritishVolt etc. The number of jobs affected by Talga may run into hundreds of thousands, possibly millions.
FOR THE PERMITS TO NOT BE OVERWHELMINGLY APPROVED. THE FOLLOWING WOULD HAVE TO BE TRUE.
1. Having the greenest anodes in the world accredited by ABB, a Swedish engineering giant, is not compelling.
2. Having LKAB a Swedish Champion, probably the most efficient miner/low cost/low carbon miner in the world is not compelling.
3. Having Northvolt another Swedish champion succeed with producing the greenest batteries by using the greenest anodes is not compelling
4. Contributing to transitioning 2.6m jobs in Europe is not compelling.
5. The graphene to be used by BillerudKorsnas another Swedish champion to decarbonise packaging across the world in not compelling.
6. The graphene used for decarbonising coatings for shipping to cars with Chematal/BASF in not compelling.
7. Supporting a Strategically Significant and possibly Globally Significant resource, critical to the battery supply chain is not compelling.
8. Finally the respectful engagement which has garnered the support of the Sami to the initial permits gained due to seasonal mining, is not compelling.
It is my view there is a massive media campaign with industry going direct to the Swedish public through the media, podcasts, twitter. This is together with the EU, UK and Norway discussing the matter at senior level. Further Northvolt, LKAB, BillerudKornas and ABB will be doing the necessary to progress their aims.
The permit process is a dialogue and discussion. The objective is to meet the needs of all parties. The Board of Talga have played a blinder in the circumstances. Silent, patient, respectful, honourable, carefully choosing their partners.
If the Swedish authorities trust their Swedish Champions . There can be only one outcome.
Remember final permits are not due until 2022. When they do arrive, they might be for much more and much sooner than you could possibly imagine.
In the words of Zoulou, DYOR, I continue to hold (very tightly)
(20min delay)