Australian firms seeks to close graphite supply gap

Australia-based developers are seeking to plug the growing supply gap in the global graphite market, which they say is struggling to keep up with active anode demand from lithium-ion battery manufacturers.

"The global supply chain is short and fragile," Talga Resources chief executive Mark Thomson told a battery minerals conference in Perth, citing the impact of Covid-19 and the the Suez Canal being blocked.

With graphite bring the largest single active material in lithium-ion batteries by volume, he said global demand for coated graphite anode material will rise to 4.55mn t or 3,791GWh by 2030 from around 900,000t or 755GWh in 2020. Batteries are a new market for graphite.

Talga is developing the Vittangi graphite mine and downstream development project in Sweden and is considering an active anode materials refinery in the UK.

Renascor Resources, which has a natural graphite deposit outside of Africa at its Siviour project in South Australia, has three initial agreements with Chinese and Japanese offtake partners. It is aiming to expand its targeted first stage output of 28,000 t/yr of purified spherical graphite to meet above-capacity demand.

EcoGraf is building a 20,000 t/yr plant at Kwinana, south of Perth, to meet environmentally-friendly graphite shortages forecast within the next few years. It is also considering the production of blended product, mixed high grade with recovered and recycled graphite material.

Black Rock Mining has attracted South Korean conglomerate Posco as a shareholder and possible offtake partner for its Mahenge graphite project in Tanzania, aiming to produce 83,000 t/yr of fines and large flake graphite, building up to 350,000 t/yr in stage four over 26 years.

"We do the mining, you do the manufacturing," Black Rock chief executive John de Vries said on the firm's relationship with Posco. The South Korean firm has taken positions in several battery minerals projects including buying an undeveloped lithium project in Argentina for $280mn, considering a downstream lithium joint venture with Pilbara Minerals and taking a $30mn stake in the Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Western Australia to guarantee itself nickel offtake.

Tanzania-focused graphite developer Walkabout Resources expects its Lindi Jumbo project to be the first new mine built in the country since mining investment regulations were changed in 2017. It has all the necessary permits for the 40,000 t/yr project to start construction but financing has not yet been completed.

The company has been assured that the Tanazanian government's requirement for a 16pc free-carried interest in the project will only come into force when there is no debt and dividends are being paid, Walkabout managing director Allan Mulligan said.

By Angus Macmillan