Aim-listed Beowulf subsidiary Oy Fennoscandian Resources will receive additional funding from Business Finland of €224 900 towards graphite purification and spheroidisation testwork, and further assessment of Fennoscandian’s graphite for battery applications.

Business Finland has been granted €10-million funding for a project titled BATCircle, which entails the development of a Finland-based circular ecosystem of battery metals.

BATCircle is part of the European Union's Strategic Energy Technology Programme, where Finland will coordinate research into battery recycling, under the auspices of Aalto University and Outotec.

The national BATCircle consortium includes a total of 22 companies, four universities, two research institutes and two cities.

The EU has listed graphite as one of 27 critical raw materials. The future supply of natural graphite is of significant concern, as the EU currently uses 14% of the global supply of graphite, but produces less than 1% of the world's natural graphite.

The lithium-ion battery industry is the fastest growing market for natural flake graphite as graphite is the most common anode material. At least seven new gigawatt-size battery factories are planned to start production in Europe by 2020.  According to some forecasts, Europe could capture a battery market of up to €250-billion a year by 2025.

China produces about 70% of the natural graphite used in lithium-ion batteries. As the need for electrified vehicles increases and the European car industry grows, the demand for natural graphite suitable for anode material is expected to increase faster than supply.

“The EU cannot rely on future supply of natural flake graphite and anode material mainly from China and Asia. It needs to ensure that future demand is met by securing its own production of natural flake graphite and value-added graphite products.

“Both the EU and the Finnish Government have taken on the strategic importance of battery metals and their value chains, and the enormous economic potential. However, it is recognised that the battery industry is currently dominated by Asian companies, and Europe is in danger of losing new business opportunities, and at the same time becoming increasingly dependent on imports for both raw materials and end products,” said Beowulf in a statement on Thursday.

Fennoscandian’s role in BATCircle entails developing Finnish knowledge of the value chain from the production of natural graphite to anode material, demonstrating that graphite powder with optimised particle-size distribution and shape can be produced from Finnish natural graphite, developing a graphite optimisation process, producing graphite electrodes and attract investment.

"It is great news that Fennoscandian received more funding from Business Finland, as Finland is moving quickly to play a major role in the European battery sector, and Beowulf is seeking to capture the value from moving downstream from natural graphite to battery feed products for anode production.

"In 2018, Fennoscandian delivered a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant mineral resource estimate for the Aitolampi graphite project, and in 2019, we are focused on further developing a 'resource footprint' of graphite in Finland, that can provide 'security of raw material supply' and enable the country to achieve its ambition of self-sufficiency in battery manufacturing,” said Beowulf CEO Kurt Budge.