Tesla, the American multinational automotive, artificial intelligence and clean energy company, has signed an agreement under which it will purchase Anode Active Material (AAM) from Tanzania.
An AAM is the active material in negative electrodes.
This comes after Tesla signed a deal with a vertically integrated lithium-ion battery company, Magnis Energy Technologies Limited, and its Tanzanian subsidiaries Uranex Tanzania Limited (Uranex) and Magnis Technologies Tanzania Limited (MTT).
Magnis Energy Technologies Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, owns Uranex and MTT by 100 percent.
Uranex said in a statement yesterday that under the agreement worth an undisclosed amount, Tesla has agreed to purchase from Magnis Energy Technologies between 17,500 tonnes and 35,000 tonnes per annum of Anode Active Material (AAM) from February 2025 for three years.
Magnis Energy is developing a graphite mine in Tanzania where it plans to get “ultra-high purity natural flake graphite” from the operation.
“The deal arrives at a critical juncture for both companies. Tanzania as a country is set to benefit tremendously in terms of technology transfer, employment, among other aspects,” Uranex said.
Uranex is a subsidiary company fully owned by Magnis Energy Technologies Ltd of Australia and its Nachu Graphite Project is a renowned world-class graphite resource. Nachu Graphite Project is located near Ruangwa, in Lindi, Tanzania.
Along with its graphite mining project in Tanzania, the company is part of the Imperium3 New York consortium of companies working to build a lithium-ion battery cell gigafactory in New York.
Furthermore, Magnis is also a shareholder and partner with C4V, a New York-based battery cell technology company.
Thus, the battery projects could prove useful to Tesla as the automaker is looking to secure a large number of battery cells in order to support its plan to build 20 million electric vehicles per year by 2030.
In Tanzania, Uranex holds a Special Mining License No. 550/2015 under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Minerals.
Besides, Magnis through MTT, was granted a licence to operate within a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Tanzania for a duration of ten (10) years which was renewed in May 2021.
According to the statement, the deal with Tesla entails purchase of fully processed graphite and spheronised graphite.
It states that in Tanzania, Uranex will oversee the Nachu Mining Project of high-quality natural flake graphite concentrate.
“The graphite resource at Nachu is composed of natural flakes of various dimensions and its purification will not involve chemical processing hence it will be an environmentally friendly processing mechanism,” the statement reads.
Through the strategic partnership, Tanzania gets a symbolic opportunity to cooperate with an iconic global player in sustainable energy.
“Through the Nachu Graphite Project, Tanzania will in turn be a leading contender in the global push for moving towards use of greener and sustainable renewable energy,” the statement says.
With the world-class facilities/infrastructure planned in the Special Economic Zone, Tanzania also gets the chance assurance of accelerating its long term ambitions of being home to the latest industrial technologies.
“Magnis guarantees to improve the livelihoods of Tanzanians by providing high quality jobs to the nationals and ensure contribution towards the country’s economic growth,” the statement says.
It says the operating philosophy of Magnis in Tanzania is to ensure that growth of the Company is matched with the developmental goals of the society surrounding its Projects, including Nachu Graphite Project.
