EcoGraf Begins EIB-Funded Work on Epanko’s Next Expansion Stage

• Up to €2 million in EIB technical assistance
• Studies cover Epanko expansion and Tanzanian downstream integration
• Independent ESG, market and engineering work is underway
• Five workstreams will inform financing and lender due diligence
• No revised project economics or final investment decision disclosed

EIB Funding Moves Epanko Into Its Next Planning Phase

EcoGraf Limited (ASX:EGR; FSE:FMK) has started work under a European Investment Bank grant worth up to €2 million, or about A$3.2 million, giving its Epanko graphite project a funded route into the next layer of technical and commercial planning. The studies will examine how the Tanzanian project could expand beyond its initial 73,000-tonne-per-year Stage 1 design and connect with planned processing facilities.

The assistance covers independent technical, environmental, social and market work. It arrives alongside EcoGraf’s recent underwritten SPP, which the company described as complementary to the grant and part of its broader effort to advance a vertically integrated battery anode materials business.

Five Workstreams Test Expansion and Integration

The program builds on Epanko’s updated Bankable Feasibility Study completed in February 2026. Its workstreams will assess expansion cases, integrated development options and the proposed link between natural flake graphite production, a Tanzanian mechanical shaping facility and downstream HFfree purification plants.

Consultants are already working on market and waste characterisation. The market study will examine European and global demand, supply, pricing, competitor positioning, qualification requirements and vulnerabilities in the graphite supply chain. Separate technical work will review tailings storage, water and waste management, while another stream will test the configuration, logistics, permitting, throughput, yields and by-product handling of the mechanical shaping facility.

Independent Studies Could Shape Financing Decisions

The final workstream is intended to produce an implementation roadmap covering technical, environmental, social, regulatory and execution readiness. EcoGraf says the resulting material should provide inputs for financial modelling, lender due diligence and future investment decisions, while being assessed against Tanzanian requirements and international standards including the EIB and IFC frameworks, the Equator Principles and the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management.

That external scrutiny is potentially useful for a project seeking financing and strategic backing, particularly because the grant reduces some development expenditure and brings in EIB-appointed experts. Yet the announcement does not provide revised economics, financing commitments, binding new offtake, construction approval or a final investment decision. The €2 million is also stated as funding available under the grant, not as evidence that the full amount has already been received in cash.

EcoGraf Managing Director Andrew Spinks said the independent workstreams would define scalable development pathways and support future financing and investment decisions (ASX:EGR). The next meaningful test will be whether the studies convert the expansion ambitions beyond the 73,000-tonne-per-year base case into a financeable, permitted and executable sequence of projects.

Bottom Line?

The grant improves the quality and funding of EcoGraf’s planning, but the investment case still depends on what the studies say and whether lenders accept the resulting expansion pathway.

Questions in the middle?

• Will the independent studies support an expansion case with stronger economics than the existing Stage 1 plan?
• When will EcoGraf publish updated technical or financial assumptions arising from the workstreams?
• Can the company secure project financing and approvals for mechanical shaping and HFfree purification after the studies conclude?