TLG Discussion 2022

[cosors]

Very hot news
We are part of a quiz in a big newspaper ("Sweden's biggest and most prestigious daily newspaper"). Apparently it's a game to see if the readers have been paying attention. Not difficult for us to answer question 2

But => "Which mineral important for climate change is planned to be mined there?"
reads to me like a tit for tat (?) to Kallak....

https://www.dn.se/quiz/nutidstestet-vecka-17-har-du-hangt-med/

And the topic of mining is particularly important for the Swedes. And which mining company is the subject of all those headlines?!
I know, not important but still and we are important for climate change!

I don't think much needs to be said about the quarterly report. I stay patient. We only started delivering last month if we didn't have to calibrate beforehand. I can't imagine that they are free when we create specific samples on behalf of a customer. It's not like luring free sausage to the market for maybe customers. Many have been waiting for a long time to get in our laboratory. So I hope maybe in the next one. We know what it's all about. I also hope that the costs will settle much lower.
Besides, with the price for Cg, the need and the world's best resource, it's easy for us to raise some money. ) Of course, that would be a fabulous waste! we are not alone and we enjoy great support

Have a nice weekend!

 

[23423982]

The quarterly shows 24 logos and there are 23 lining up for samples. Are they the same?

 

[Semmel]

The quarterly shows 24 logos and there are 23 lining up for samples. Are they the same?

Probably not. The logos are the battery producers in Europe. Talga has 23 potential customers world wide. So neither the same region nor the same category.

 

[Semmel]

Does any of you have a background knowledge of the EU would provide funding to Talga before the permits are issued? I understand that ideally, you would only fund projects that are sure. But there are plenty of examples where finding was issued before final approval for a project was given, an example would be Teslas factory in Berlin.

Also, Talga would reasonably be required that any finding that is used to produce anodes in Europe would need to stay in Europe, i.e. delivered to European battery manufacturers like NV. So a reasonable requirement would again be off take agreements with European customers.

On the other hand, the situation with Russia and the almost absolute dependency on china would burn like hell fire under the EUs cumulative backsides. Does anyone think we might get funding before any of the contracts are in place?

 

[cosors]

I second your question!

 

[cosors]

Here is a statement/update from Skelton about the proposed EU battery regulation. They are one of the co-signatories of the letter to the EU.
It's also an exciting company, I think.

"Skeleton appreciates the progress on EU battery regulation but supports calls for speedy adoption​

Posted by Arnaud Castaignet on - 31 March 2022

On March 17th, the Council of the European Union announced it has adopted a general approach to the proposal for a regulation to strengthen EU legislation on batteries and waste batteries.



This new landmark sustainable battery law aimed at embedding resilience, sustainability, and competitiveness into the European battery industry has been proposed in December 2020 by the European Commission. Among the key elements of this new regulation are the mandatory carbon footprint declarations, mandated recycling, and due diligence policies, for instance. This initiative is of major importance, particularly in view of the massive development of electric mobility, from an environmental, economic, and social point of view. It is also very important in terms of technological sovereignty for the European Union. The new regulation will replace the current batteries directive of 2006.



As explained by Barbara Pompili, French Minister for Ecological Transition (France currently holds the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU), “the new rules will promote the competitiveness of European industry and production chains and make more batteries available for our shift towards zero-emission modes of transport.”



The European Parliament adopted its negotiating position in the plenary on 10 March 2022. The Council and Parliament will now start trilogue negotiations with a view to progressing towards an agreement on the final text in the first reading. It’s an appreciated and welcomed progress but, as the key European battery players, Skeleton hopes and calls for speedy adoption of the final regulation and delegated acts.



In December 2021, together with EIT InnoEnergy, ACC - Automotive Cells Company, Northvolt, Verkor, Vulcan Energy Resources, Talga Group, and Eramet, Skeleton co-signed a letter sent to Environment Ministers of the EU and key MEPs warning against unnecessary and counterproductive delays to the implementation of the new EU battery regulation. We consider such delays would deny the young European battery industry a head start over more established players which have a poor history of corporate social responsibility practices.



In addition to the environmental benefits of this new regulation, Skeleton values the fact it would also strongly support low-carbon battery technologies manufacturing in Europe as well as technologies made and developed in Europe. The geopolitical context shows that fossil fuels dependency should not be replaced by a dependency on battery imports or their components.



It’s not an issue Skeleton faces, and we know supercapacitors would not fall under this new regulation, anyway. Nonetheless, the regulation contains several aspects regarding batteries which Skeleton Technologies considers to be a positive sign for the planet as it supports batteries being lighter, more environmentally friendly, and having a longer life span.



In particular, we support the fact lead-acid batteries will be heavily regulated with a forced recycling rate of close to 100%. Tough recycling regulations on hazardous materials and due diligence policies are strongly supported, too, as well as the mandatory reporting of a battery's carbon footprint over its lifespan.



The industry has the solutions to increase the lifespan of batteries - and indeed using supercapacitors and hybrid ESS with supercapacitors are some of these solutions – so regulators don’t have reasons to be concerned about the negative effects on the battery industry, quite the contrary. The fact many key European battery players are asking them to move faster should therefore encourage them."
https://www.skeletontech.com/skelet...lation-but-supports-calls-for-speedy-adoption

 

[cosors]

Does any of you have a background knowledge of the EU would provide funding to Talga before the permits are issued? I understand that ideally, you would only fund projects that are sure. But there are plenty of examples where finding was issued before final approval for a project was given, an example would be Teslas factory in Berlin.

Also, Talga would reasonably be required that any finding that is used to produce anodes in Europe would need to stay in Europe, i.e. delivered to European battery manufacturers like NV. So a reasonable requirement would again be off take agreements with European customers.

On the other hand, the situation with Russia and the almost absolute dependency on china would burn like hell fire under the EUs cumulative backsides. Does anyone think we might get funding before any of the contracts are in place?

So far, I have only been able to find this reference. But I do see us there in focus, in thought.

"Questions and Answers: The European Battery Alliance: progress made and the way forward​

.
.
.
What are the key priority areas for the European Battery Alliance in 2022?

Since the establishment of the Alliance there was a good overall progress in developing the battery value chain in Europe and the recent initiatives addressing the emerging challenges. However, further concerted efforts are needed by Team Europe.

The Commission has identified the following priorities for 2022:

• Providing a new legal framework for the battery industry;
• Diversifying supply sources and routes for battery raw materials;
• Streamlining and accelerating permitting procedures for battery raw material projects at national and regional level;
• Improving and facilitating access to funding for primary and secondary battery raw materials projects; and
• Launching of national re-skilling and up-skilling programmes."

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_22_1257
__________________________________________________________


This programme runs in parallel. I thought at the time that it was tailor made for us. The dates are also interesting.

"For graphite, both natural and synthetic graphite production for the EV market take place almost exclusively in China. Although there is some existing mining of Natural graphite in Europe, scaling these sources for the active anode material needs within Europe will be very challenging as (i) extensive graphite exploration and mining would be needed[1], and (ii) almost all of the refining capacity is based in China. The main challenges in refining are low yield in the spheronisation and the use of large amounts of hydrofluoric acid in the refining step.
...
The Natural graphite projects are expected to focus additionally on:

• Advanced refining of Natural graphite to improve the yield of battery grade products and lower the environmental footprint.
• Scope: Enabling European graphite production – with vertical integration into the European battery production. Resource efficient sustainable production of both synthetic and natural graphite emphasising reduction of energy consumption, CO2 emissions, chemical use and the optimisation of recovery yield and raw material consumption. Enhance versatility regarding products and usable primary/secondary raw materials.
• Development of solutions for combined use of natural and synthetic graphite.
• For natural graphite: improving purification, milling, shaping and coating technologies that improve the performance characteristics of natural graphite.
• Improving the yield of spheronised products from natural graphite concentrate.
• Development of a non-HF purification technology to produce battery-grade anode material from spheronised natural graphite.
• Developing improved coating technologies for natural graphite that will increase the performance characteristics of natural compared to synthetic.
• For synthetic graphite: Improving graphitisation, calcining, milling, shaping and coating that improve the performance characteristics of synthetic graphite.
• The use of other available European carbon options like biobased anode carbon and by-products from anode material production as raw materials for synthetic graphite are expected to be developed.
• Development of new processes for synthetic graphite production from natural gas pyrolysis.
• Reduction of process discharge and emissions in synthetic graphite production."

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-t...ities/topic-details/horizon-cl5-2022-d2-01-01

A summary: https://accelopment.com/blog/funding/new-eu-funding-opportunities-for-energy-related-projects/

However, I have not yet worked my way through the small print. And the budgets aren't the 200 million, but they're still pretty big. That's enough to finance the current project. I hope Talga has signed up or will. But for NG we are the biggest, so it would be strange if we didn't.

 

[TentCity]

So far, I have only been able to find this reference. But I do see us there in focus, in thought.

"Questions and Answers: The European Battery Alliance: progress made and the way forward​

.
.
.
What are the key priority areas for the European Battery Alliance in 2022?

Since the establishment of the Alliance there was a good overall progress in developing the battery value chain in Europe and the recent initiatives addressing the emerging challenges. However, further concerted efforts are needed by Team Europe.

The Commission has identified the following priorities for 2022:

• Providing a new legal framework for the battery industry;
• Diversifying supply sources and routes for battery raw materials;
• Streamlining and accelerating permitting procedures for battery raw material projects at national and regional level;
• Improving and facilitating access to funding for primary and secondary battery raw materials projects; and
• Launching of national re-skilling and up-skilling programmes."

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_22_1257
__________________________________________________________


This programme runs in parallel. I thought at the time that it was tailor made for us. The dates are also interesting.

View attachment 5542

"For graphite, both natural and synthetic graphite production for the EV market take place almost exclusively in China. Although there is some existing mining of Natural graphite in Europe, scaling these sources for the active anode material needs within Europe will be very challenging as (i) extensive graphite exploration and mining would be needed[1], and (ii) almost all of the refining capacity is based in China. The main challenges in refining are low yield in the spheronisation and the use of large amounts of hydrofluoric acid in the refining step.
...
The Natural graphite projects are expected to focus additionally on:

• Advanced refining of Natural graphite to improve the yield of battery grade products and lower the environmental footprint.
• Scope: Enabling European graphite production – with vertical integration into the European battery production. Resource efficient sustainable production of both synthetic and natural graphite emphasising reduction of energy consumption, CO2 emissions, chemical use and the optimisation of recovery yield and raw material consumption. Enhance versatility regarding products and usable primary/secondary raw materials.
• Development of solutions for combined use of natural and synthetic graphite.
• For natural graphite: improving purification, milling, shaping and coating technologies that improve the performance characteristics of natural graphite.
• Improving the yield of spheronised products from natural graphite concentrate.
• Development of a non-HF purification technology to produce battery-grade anode material from spheronised natural graphite.
• Developing improved coating technologies for natural graphite that will increase the performance characteristics of natural compared to synthetic.
• For synthetic graphite: Improving graphitisation, calcining, milling, shaping and coating that improve the performance characteristics of synthetic graphite.
• The use of other available European carbon options like biobased anode carbon and by-products from anode material production as raw materials for synthetic graphite are expected to be developed.
• Development of new processes for synthetic graphite production from natural gas pyrolysis.
• Reduction of process discharge and emissions in synthetic graphite production."

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-t...ities/topic-details/horizon-cl5-2022-d2-01-01

A summary: https://accelopment.com/blog/funding/new-eu-funding-opportunities-for-energy-related-projects/

However, I have not yet worked my way through the small print. And the budgets aren't the 200 million, but they're still pretty big. That's enough to finance the current project. I hope Talga has signed up or will. But for NG we are the biggest, so it would be strange if we didn't.

Nicely done as always Cosors!

As you mention, it is like Mark helped write that funding brief - the alignment to Talga is uncanny!

I wonder whether if Talga does make a submission to access this funding opportunity, would they have to announce they have applied to the ASX or would they only notify if they are successful?

I think the market would react very favourably if they saw Talga taking this initiative to potentially to reduce the capex required for the project.

 

[cosors]

Nicely done as always Cosors!

As you mention, it is like Mark helped write that funding brief - the alignment to Talga is uncanny!

I wonder whether if Talga does make a submission to access this funding opportunity, would they have to announce they have applied to the ASX or would they only notify if they are successful?

I think the market would react very favourably if they saw Talga taking this initiative to potentially to reduce the capex required for the project.

They definitely know about it. I sent an email to Talga last year when this project was introduced so they wouldn't overlook it, that was my hope at the time. But now they are so closely involved with the EU that my mail was unnecessary.

 

[Semmel]

So far, I have only been able to find this reference. But I do see us there in focus, in thought.

"Questions and Answers: The European Battery Alliance: progress made and the way forward​

.
.
.
What are the key priority areas for the European Battery Alliance in 2022?

Since the establishment of the Alliance there was a good overall progress in developing the battery value chain in Europe and the recent initiatives addressing the emerging challenges. However, further concerted efforts are needed by Team Europe.

The Commission has identified the following priorities for 2022:

• Providing a new legal framework for the battery industry;
• Diversifying supply sources and routes for battery raw materials;
• Streamlining and accelerating permitting procedures for battery raw material projects at national and regional level;
• Improving and facilitating access to funding for primary and secondary battery raw materials projects; and
• Launching of national re-skilling and up-skilling programmes."

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_22_1257
__________________________________________________________


This programme runs in parallel. I thought at the time that it was tailor made for us. The dates are also interesting.

View attachment 5542

"For graphite, both natural and synthetic graphite production for the EV market take place almost exclusively in China. Although there is some existing mining of Natural graphite in Europe, scaling these sources for the active anode material needs within Europe will be very challenging as (i) extensive graphite exploration and mining would be needed[1], and (ii) almost all of the refining capacity is based in China. The main challenges in refining are low yield in the spheronisation and the use of large amounts of hydrofluoric acid in the refining step.
...
The Natural graphite projects are expected to focus additionally on:

• Advanced refining of Natural graphite to improve the yield of battery grade products and lower the environmental footprint.
• Scope: Enabling European graphite production – with vertical integration into the European battery production. Resource efficient sustainable production of both synthetic and natural graphite emphasising reduction of energy consumption, CO2 emissions, chemical use and the optimisation of recovery yield and raw material consumption. Enhance versatility regarding products and usable primary/secondary raw materials.
• Development of solutions for combined use of natural and synthetic graphite.
• For natural graphite: improving purification, milling, shaping and coating technologies that improve the performance characteristics of natural graphite.
• Improving the yield of spheronised products from natural graphite concentrate.
• Development of a non-HF purification technology to produce battery-grade anode material from spheronised natural graphite.
• Developing improved coating technologies for natural graphite that will increase the performance characteristics of natural compared to synthetic.
• For synthetic graphite: Improving graphitisation, calcining, milling, shaping and coating that improve the performance characteristics of synthetic graphite.
• The use of other available European carbon options like biobased anode carbon and by-products from anode material production as raw materials for synthetic graphite are expected to be developed.
• Development of new processes for synthetic graphite production from natural gas pyrolysis.
• Reduction of process discharge and emissions in synthetic graphite production."

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-t...ities/topic-details/horizon-cl5-2022-d2-01-01

A summary: https://accelopment.com/blog/funding/new-eu-funding-opportunities-for-energy-related-projects/

However, I have not yet worked my way through the small print. And the budgets aren't the 200 million, but they're still pretty big. That's enough to finance the current project. I hope Talga has signed up or will. But for NG we are the biggest, so it would be strange if we didn't.

That reads as if it was written by talga. If i understand the process of how these letters come into existence, that is a real possibility as well.

 

[Semmel]

Nicely done as always Cosors!

As you mention, it is like Mark helped write that funding brief - the alignment to Talga is uncanny!

I wonder whether if Talga does make a submission to access this funding opportunity, would they have to announce they have applied to the ASX or would they only notify if they are successful?

I think the market would react very favourably if they saw Talga taking this initiative to potentially to reduce the capex required for the project.

Should have read your answer first. Same opinion!

 

[Micreg]

Rough day on the ASX today, but TLG held its ground, unlike many blue-chip stocks. Impressive.

Happy Friday

 

[Wewillseewhatfutureholds]

Can anyone give information on what this trading platform is please?
Only has 5 days of trading history.
Not massive trades on there, but seems to be more regular trades taking place.
Just curious it probably doesn't make a difference

 

[Micreg]

German battery conference. Hopefully the team gets to chat with lots of customers

 

[Monkeymandan]

German battery conference. Hopefully the team gets to chat with lots of customers

The title of MT’s talk - or rather lack thereof, is slightly tantalising…

 

[Diogenese]

The title of MT’s talk - or rather lack thereof, is slightly tantalising…

"Watch This Space!"

 

[TentCity]

The title of MT’s talk - or rather lack thereof, is slightly tantalising…

It does look like a great conference and all the big players in the auto space will be attending. Therefore, i can’t work out why Mark is presenting virtually rather than in-person? As I’ve mentioned previously, this is the perfect time for when he should be making up for the last 2 years being stuck in WA to be meeting with all the key players, particularly when we are at the pointy end of negotiating financing, offtakes and permits.

 

[Semmel]

It does look like a great conference and all the big players in the auto space will be attending. Therefore, i can’t work out why Mark is presenting virtually rather than in-person? As I’ve mentioned previously, this is the perfect time for when he should be making up for the last 2 years being stuck in WA to be meeting with all the key players, particularly when we are at the pointy end of negotiating financing, offtakes and permits.

Yeah, i find the lack of in person attendance from mark a bit strange too. Not only here, also the opening of the EVA plant.. he had an excuse but we still don't know what it was.

 

[TentCity]

Yeah, i find the lack of in person attendance from mark a bit strange too. Not only here, also the opening of the EVA plant.. he had an excuse but we still don't know what it was.

Spot on - I hope Mark send Martin Phillips along to attend as the networking on the side of the conference would be very valuable.

I see on the HC forum someone posted about Nortvolt receiving funding from the German Gov’t to set up a new Gigafactory there. Good reminder for our longer terms prospects that whilst we just want to get this project off the ground in Sweden with permits & the 19,800tpa Stage 1 operation; longer term, TLG has aspirations to set up Anode refineries in the UK, Norway (possibly with FREYR) and Deutschland would be another obvious location to expand.

Finally, let’s not forget Mark talking about dual listing on a US exchange during the Limiting Factor interview quite some time ago. The timing was to coincide with financing for the project, which will likely occur in H2 this year. Would be interesting to see if this is still a priority given the huge demand for Anode in Europe alone and valuation discounts of our current share price may lessen once we’ve been further derisked with binding offtakes, permits and financing.

As long as Putin doesn’t do something stupid and attack Finland/Sweden if they choose to join NATO, the 2nd half of CY2022 should be transformational (in a good way) for Talga.

 

[Gero]

The open short positions in TLG as of Monday 9th May are now at a record high at 1,519,944 shares.

The net open short position increased by 256,426 shares, on a total traded volume of the 1.5M shares. So at least 1 in 6 share traded on the 9/5
were short sales. This excludes any short sales that were opened and closed out the same day.

The open net short position has increased by ~600k shares, since the last SP peak of $1.74, on the 21/4.

The share price fell another 10c over the rest of the week, with just of 3M shares traded.

I'll be interested to see if the open shorts increase or decrease over this period.

There is a very strong support level around $1.225 over the past 18 months trading, so I do not see any great gains, subject to no Black Swan events, being made shorting Talga at these levels.

With major news on resource upgrades, permitting, financing and purchase agreements due over the next 6 months, I would not like to be trying to buy back +1.5M shares when these announcements start dropping.