Australian mining firm International Graphite has partnered with Arctic Graphite, a subsidiary of Norwegian construction giant Leonhard Nilsen & Sonner (LNS), and Graphite Investment Partners (GIP) to establish a new expandable graphite production facility in Germany.
The new plant is scheduled to start operations in 2027, and is expected to produce around 3,000 tons annually. Expandable graphite is used as a flame retardant in construction materials and insulation in electronics, as well as in batteries and green steel electrodes.
GIP has committed to arranging funding for at least 50% of the estimated €5-million ($5.86-million) capital cost of the facility, and has issued a non-binding letter of interest to arrange up to $10 million in total funding.
International Graphite and Arctic Graphite plan to form a 50/50 joint venture to finance, build and operate the plant.
The plant will be International Graphite’s second processing facility. The company has been piloting downstream graphite processing in Australia for the past six years and is currently building a commercial graphite micronizing plant in Collie, Western Australia.
The company aims to establish an international network of processing facilities that will produce a range of graphite products, from micronized and expandable to advanced battery anode material, using natural graphite from a mine at the company’s Springdale graphite resource, which is also in Western Australia.
“Graphite is subject to supply disruption more than any other commodity. The demand fundamentals for expandable graphite are compelling. There is little or no production of this product in the EU, which accounts for approximately 30 per cent of global consumption outside of China,” said Aidan Nania, Principal at Graphite Investment Partners.
Source: International Graphite
