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Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed Magnis Energy Technologies has signed a binding funding proposal for up to A$50m ($33.4m) with US investment fund SBC Global.

Australia’s Magnis Energy Technologies has made important advances in its 230,000 t/yr Nachu graphite project, with financing expected to be in place by June and first production in early 2025, bolstered by an offtake agreement with Tesla and plans for a gas-to-power plant, writes Marc Howard, recently in Dar es Salaam.

Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed Walkabout Resources said on 27 February that it had secured $10m of funding from the United States’ Battery Metals Capital Group (BMCG). Construction at Walkabout’s 40,000 t/yr Lindi Jumbo graphite project has been funded using equity to date.

Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)- and London AIM-listed Mkango Resources said on 27 February that it had received the TSX’s conditional approval for its recent £3.5m ($4.2m) fundraising share placement. Some of the funds will be used for the firm’s Songwe Hill rare earths project in Malawi.

Melbourne-headquartered mining giant BHP has closed its second $50m tranche of investment into the Kabanga nickel development in north-western Tanzania, taking its indirect equity stake in project vehicle Tembo Nickel Corporation to 14.3%.  Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) has been lined up for grid power supply to the mine.

Tirupati Graphite has commissioned the 18,000 t/yr flake graphite production facility at its Sahamamy project in Madagascar.

Toronto Stock Exchange-listed NextSource Materials said on 21 February that it was approaching first production at its Molo graphite project, having completed the processing plant.

Power supply to the Lindi Jumbo graphite mine will be provided by a 33kV line from the southern circuit of Tanzanian Electrical Supply Company (Tanseco)’s grid.

A front-runner in helping East Africa to meet its ambitions to tap vast graphite reserves, Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed Walkabout Resources’ 40,000 t/yr Lindi Jumbo graphite project has reached an advanced stage of development. Its developer told African Energy that the project had been boosted by President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s market-oriented reforms and by robust global demand, which is supporting Tanzanian ambitions to become a significant supplier of the critical mineral. The project and graphite's role in the energy transition is analysed by Marc Howard in Dar es Salaam.    

Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)-listed Aya Gold & Silver has announced that it has closed $100m of debt finance to expand its Zgounder project in the central Anti-Atlas region, 100km south of Marrakesh.

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has announced that it is partnering with airborne geophysics firm Xcalibur Multiphysics to boost the development of natural resource projects across Africa.

Australian Securities Exchange-listed Aura Energy has signed a 30-year convention with the Mauritanian government for the greenfield Tiris uranium and vanadium project.

Ivanhoe Mines has announced that output at its Kamoa-Kakula copper mining complex in Lualaba province saw a 215% year-on-year increase in 2022. The Toronto Stock Exchange-listed company said Kamoa-Kakula would soon become “one of the world’s leading producers” of copper. Hydroelectric power (HEP) forms a cornerstone of the company’s goal of net-zero operational greenhouse gas emissions at the mine.

London-listed Pensana’s is gearing up to develop its $300m Longonjo mixed rare earth sulphate (MRES) mine and processing plant, which will be supplied with hydroelectric power from Laúca and later from solar PV.

Rio Tinto and China Baowu Steel Group have agreed the terms for developing the rail and port infrastructure that will deliver Simandou’s iron ore to market.