Cat & RaysterMy thinking lines up with yours. I too am quietly...

Cat & Rayster

My thinking lines up with yours. I too am quietly confident of a deal between Talga and Northvolt.

Here's why:

• While it is true that Northvolt has said it intends to produce its own cathodes in house it has never said the same thing about anodes, all it has ever said is that it plans to source clean green anode material so it can lay claim to producing the cleanest and greenest batteries (where have I heard those words before)?
• ABB is the common provider not just of the production equipment but also of smart software monitoring and control systems for both Northvolt and Talga. Northvolt says it will enable the through life performance of every input to be carefully monitored from the mine, through production, in car life and recycling. Mark has said pretty much exactly the same thing will apply to every batch of their graphite from the moment it is dug up to the moment it is recycled.
• I can't be 100% sure but I think VW is also talking to ABB.
• Mark has said he's talking to just about every European battery factory current and planned including the one just down the road...chuckle, chuckle, smile, smile.
• Yes, Northvolt Ett starts up before Talga does but that does not exclude the possibility that Talga will supplyAAM down the track, Mark has said publicly that the battery factories will blend Talnode C with stuff from other anode suppliers to get the right mix of performance characteristics that the EV car manufacturers are after for each of their models.
• On that subject he has also said Talga's aim is to supply anode material for the mass market, in other words for small to medium size cars that are the most popular models in Europe, the sort of cars Northvolt will make batteries for.
• And to the extent northvolt does intend producing anode slurry in house that matches up with Mark's recent comment that they plan to produce their AAM not just at Lulea but in embedded shops inside the battery megafactories across several countries including Europe.

So, yes it is true that its not a done deal...but the ducks are lining up nicely...slowly but nicely.

Looking forward to a very merry Christmas.