Exploration and development company Beowulf Mining has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Epsilon Advanced Materials Private, a subsidiary of Epsilon Carbon, to develop a concept for a strategic processing hub of natural flake and recycled graphite in Finland.
The MoU will enable Beowulf’s subsidiary, Fennoscandian Resources, to build its downstream capability, collaborating with a strong technology/processing partner.
“[The] MoU is part of our acceleration plan for Fennoscandian, as the company fulfills its role as a potential future supplier of the raw materials, that Finland and Europe need for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries,” said CEO Kurt Budge on Monday.
Fennoscandian is pursuing a strategy to develop a production base of natural flake graphite that can provide 'security of supply' and enable Finland to achieve its ambition of self-sufficiency in battery manufacturing.
The company is a recipient of Business Finland funding, which is supporting Fennoscandian to move downstream, and develop its knowledge in processing and manufacturing value-added graphite products.
Fennoscandian is developing the Aitolampi graphite asset, which has a contained graphite resource of 1.28-million tonnes, possessing almost perfect crystallinity, an important prerequisite for high tech applications, such as lithium-ion batteries.