Graphite is the number one raw material input into a Li-ion...

Graphite is the number one raw material input into a Li-ion battery”Reporting from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), Benchmark Minerals Intelligence Managing Director, Simon Moore, reiterates the importance of the battery metal as approximately 50% of Li-ion batteries by mass require graphite.Currently, the global market offers 165kpta anode material for existing manufacturing capacity, which needs to rise to 1.6Mtpa by 2030.Anode formation relies on synthetic and natural blending, however the higher cost of synthetic and difficulty scaling production will boost the significance of natural sources.The industry will turn to advanced technology materials producers including Talga Resources who will be able to deliver premium materials to boost the performance of even the best existing commercial iterations. The vertically integrated graphite company will require sustained investment as they take the world’s highest-grade graphite deposit into production to support the accelerating global battery industries.Simon Moore also emphasises capital market investment is one of the greatest risks to global electrification as sustained funding is falling short for the “biggest trend in the 21st century, which is energy storage”.The rise of battery Megafactories is huge, with 71 currently under development and 45 operating at multi-GWh scales.Scaling the supply chain presents huge challenges as speciality markets grow from niche 100ktpa industries to multi-million tonne scale.The trends cumulatively indicate there is a major supply risk across the battery metal space, particularly across the US and Europe where the four metals (lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite) are designated critical metals, requiring sustained and significant global investment to advance capacity.