Altech Chemicals receives cash boost as major shareholders convert options
Altech Chemicals is undertaking a definitive feasibility study on its proposed silicon graphite alumina coating plant in Germany.
Emerging battery materials producer Altech Chemicals (ASX: ATC) has received a boost of more than $2.1 million this week as two major shareholders converted more than 26.5 million of their listed options.
In an announcement today, Altech said its largest shareholder Deutsche Balaton Aktiengesellschaft has converted 15 million listed options which were due to expire at the end of May at a conversion price of $0.08 each to generate total proceeds of $1.2 million.
Another significant shareholder, Delphi Unternehmensberatung Aktiengesellschaft, converted 11.5 million listed options for a total of $921,543.
Altech managing director Iggy Tan said this $2.1 million cash boost comes at an exciting time for the company as it progresses its definitive feasibility study for a battery materials coating plant and construction of its German silicon-graphite alumina coating pilot plant.
“Altech recently announced the outstanding preliminary feasibility study results for its Silumina Anodes battery materials project in Germany, which included a pre-tax NPV of US$507 million, as well as an attractive internal rate of return of 40%,” he said.
“To have the support of these major shareholders, both domiciled in Germany, at a time when Altech is moving forward with construction of the Silumina Anodes pilot plant in Germany, as well as the DFS on the 10,000 tonnes per annum Silumina Anodes, is very positive.”
Altech also used the announcement to remind other holders of listed options of their pending expiry date of 31 May 2022.
March quarter results
Today’s news follows the release of Altech’s March quarter report, which saw strong progress across the company’s battery materials projects in Germany and Malaysia.
Altech is developing a 10,000tpa silicon graphite anode plant in Saxony, Germany using its proprietary high purity alumina (HPA) coating technology. The company delivered a highly positive preliminary feasibility study (PFS) for the project with the board agreeing to progress immediately to a DFS.
During the quarter, Altech appointed Kuttner Engineering as the pilot plant engineering contractor with final pilot plant engineering due to start immediately, ahead of procurement and construction.
Altech also aims to raise US$144 million from a listed green bond offering to advance its Johor HPA project in Malaysia. Of this total amount, US$100 million is expected to be used as secondary debt for the plant’s construction with the balance of US$44 million to service bond interest during the plant’s construction phase.
The German government-owned KfW IPEX-Bank has already committed senior project finance of US$190 million.
Also during the quarter, a drilling program at Altech’s Kerrigan kaolin project in Western Australia yielded new data to define an inferred resource of 125 million tonnes of kaolin, growing the kaolin tonnage of the project by 47%.