en.Wedoany.com Reported - Evion Group's Panthera Graphite Technology Joint Venture achieved $530,000 EBITDA in its first commercial production year, despite operating at less than 25% capacity utilization, demonstrating its profitability potential. Management believes this indicates the business model is fundamentally profitable before capacity ramp-up, and the project has also reduced on-site debt through operating cash flow.
Evion Group (ASX:EVG) operates the project in India as a 50:50 joint venture with Metachem Manufacturing, commencing operations at the end of 2024, with the first shipment delivered in March last year. The facility processes natural graphite concentrate from mines, producing expandable graphite through specialized chemicals and heating processes. Products are supplied to the global energy storage systems, flame retardants, and advanced electronics and mechanical applications markets. Management noted that expandable graphite prices range between $3,100 and $3,400 per ton, reflecting the product's premium positioning.
In its first full year, Panthera achieved a 54.5% gross margin, selling approximately 720 tons with revenue of about $1.72 million. Evion Group Managing Director David Round stated that achieving positive EBITDA in the first year of operations at less than a quarter of capacity is a significant milestone, and the margins and ability to reduce debt through operations validate the commercial logic behind establishing the business.
Evion and Metachem plan to ramp up operations to the first phase annual capacity of 2,500 tons in fiscal 2026, targeting EBITDA of $3.4 million and net profit of $2.9 million. Under the same margin structure, the second phase expansion targets an annual capacity of 4,000 tons, with projected EBITDA of $5.8 million and pre-tax net profit of $5.3 million.
Evion Group is building a multi-commodity critical minerals business across four jurisdictions through Panthera as its processing division. The company is advancing the Maniry Graphite Project in Madagascar, focusing on producing materials for the US and European battery anode and advanced materials markets, moving toward a final investment decision. The group recently acquired the Carp Fluorspar Project in Nevada, USA. Fluorspar, like graphite, is classified as a critical mineral by the US, EU, and Australia. The US has had no meaningful domestic fluorspar production since 1990 and remains heavily reliant on imports. The Carp Project previously produced 45,000 tons of high-grade fluorspar concentrate from four shallow open-pit mines, with an average grade of approximately 69% CaF2.
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