Importance of Mining Our Own Graphite

Be it nuclear reactors, pencils, heat-resistant coatings, lithium-ion batteries, or lubricants, they all have one thing in common. Graphite! The United States shut down most if its graphite mining seven decades ago. Why? Simple. We sold our soul to China’s inexpensive exporting of the product. Right now, not a single U.S. graphite mine regularly produces a commercial product.

That could be changing. Demand for graphite is surging as trade tensions with China persist. With federal officials concerned about the steady supply of a number of critical minerals, several companies have plans to mine graphite.

In New York, Titan Mining Corp. has recently mined a limited amount from a deposit. It’s aiming for commercial sales by 2028. Company officials believe the geopolitical winds are at their backs to sell graphite concentrate for high-tech, industrial and military uses, as well as anodes in large lithium-ion batteries connected to electrical grids – national and infrastructure necessities.

“We believe there is a real opportunity here,” said company CEO, Rita Adiani. “We have the ability to supply a significant portion of U.S. needs. And that’s largely because you can’t see China now as a reliable supply-chain partner.” - which we should never see any country as, no matter how loving the relationship is at any given time.

Graphite can conduct electricity and withstand high temperatures, making it useful for a host of commercial and military applications. The Department of Energy has said the need for graphite is critical, and the Department of the Interior lists it as one of 60 critical minerals.

Global graphite demand is expected to continue well into the next decade, coinciding with the battery boom. China’s dominance in supplying both natural and synthetic graphite has worried U.S. policymakers for years. Federal officials, trying to shore up supply chains for critical minerals, included a tax credit for critical mineral production in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. In addition, the Trump administration struck critical mineral deals with other countries to diversify supplies.

According to Gregory Keoleian, co-director of the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan, “I think you just don’t want to be completely reliant on other countries when you have resources that you could develop.” There’s a guy with economic common sense.

The Titan mine is one of five active projects, which also includes two in Alabama, and one each in Montana and Alaska. The Graphite One Inc. project in Alaska is at the site of what state officials say is the largest known large-flake graphite deposit in the United States. “When we are sitting with one of the largest graphite deposits in the entire world … there’s no reason why we need to rely on China for our graphite,” said Anthony Huston, president and CEO of Graphite One.

Titan has an early advantage, however, because its graphite deposit was discovered several years ago at the site of its existing zinc mine. Titan expects to eventually produce about 44,000+ tons of graphite concentrate a year, which the company says is roughly half the current U.S. demand for natural graphite. Good news for the move towards self-reliance.

Source used: Associated Press