"Graphite is Powering the Future" - A Special Report on Graphite Processing & Sourcing in North America

Graphite, a form of pure carbon, is essential to batteries in electric vehicles. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is expected to offer subsidies to only EVs with battery materials sourced from America or free-trade agreement countries and processed in the US. Graphite companies are responding to the IRA.

This special report profiles three graphite players in North America - Graphex Technologies, Urbix Inc. and Graphite One.

Graphite Powers the Future: Graphex

Graphite is crucial in the chemistry of lithium-ion batteries.

"Graphite is a foundational player. It is necessary. It is natural. It is in high demand for the future. Graphite is powering the future," says John DeMaio, CEO, of Graphex Technologies.

Graphite is currently the most important element in electric vehicle battery anodes, he says.

Most of the interest in the past couple of years has been around the cathode metals, lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese. However, in a typical EV battery – NCM (Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) 523 for example - 95-99% of the anode material is graphite, which translates to about 45-48% of the battery chemistry in each cell, and up to 28% or more of the mass of the overall battery pack, explains DeMaio.

"The exciting thing for those of us in the graphite industry is that, as adult material, graphite's performance is unmatched. It is a natural product. It is stable, inert, and recyclable. It performs well in thermal and electrical. It does what it is supposed to do. There is no real substitute for graphite on the foreseeable horizon - for ten to twenty years or more. As long as the electrification movement keeps going there will be increasing demand for graphite." 

China consistently produces graphite supplies. The EV industry in North America is trying to separate that from the Chinese product, he says.

The Inflation Reduction Act subsidies will be only for products sourced from North American or free-trade-agreement countries. The demand for graphite far outstrips its domestic supply.

He explains the process of manufacturing graphite for automotive batteries.

Graphex Technologies receives the material from mines that is usually 95% graphite.

"We take that from that 95% and bring it to 99.95% graphite. Then we put a coating on it that makes it perform inside electric vehicle batteries," says DeMaio.

Graphex Technologies was formed in 2021 as a US subsidiary of world graphite maker - Graphex Group Limited. The company is building a facility in Warren, Michigan which can produce 15,000 tonnes per year of battery anode material.

Graphex announced partnerships with Southstar, battery metals in Alabama, Gratomic Inc., a graphite company based in Toronto, Ontario and Northern Graphite Corporation, based in Ottawa, Ontario with mines in Canada and Namibia.

Graphex is looking to bring on more facilities in Canada and America.

They are considering the construction of a large-scale graphite processing facility in the Baie-Comeau area of Canada.

"We are also scouting out places near mines or within easy transportation from mines. The demand is so large that there is the need for multiple iterations of large-scale facilities," says DeMaio

Currently, the company is using graphite partially processed in China and will complete the processing of it in the US during the next year or two.

"At the same time, we will be developing increased capability in North America so we can use Canadian graphite or graphite from other free-trade countries. The ultimate goal is to have a complete North American supply chain." 

He remarks the process Graphex uses is similar to how silicon wafers have been made in Silicon Valley for a long time. Chemical wastes from the processing are neutralized into harmless inorganic salts, such as sodium chloride (table salts), fluorides and calcium carbonate.

"There are no toxic waste discharges. Some chemical treatment has to be done responsibly. Like it has been done for decades in Silicon Valley." 

The company screens suppliers for their ESG practices.

"One of our ESG screening parameters we ask - What are your ESG practices and profile of how you conduct your business?", he adds.

"Graphex has a lot of the know-how and technical expertise, which is not easy to come by because this is part art and part science. We also have the agility to replicate all the best parts of what we have learned and bring that to the US." 

Graphex Group Limited holds 23 patents in graphite production methods, machinery design, and environmental protection. The main office is in Hong Kong, with regional offices in Shanghai and Michigan.

Born in the USA - A New Way of Processing Graphite: Urbix

In 2014, Nico Cuevas, CEO of Urbix Inc. and his co-founders decided to commission the University of Arizona to find a better way to process graphite. The company now owns that IP.

"You know, when you're young, you don't have a girlfriend. You're not married, and you have some money. You have decisions to make, like buying a house or a Range Rover or investing in a graphite idea. At that time it made more sense to do graphite than housing," Cuevas tells Auto Futures.

"Urbix is in Mesa, Arizona. We have 53 employees. We have our pilot facility and are in our first commercial demonstration mine. The goals are to have that running and finish the validation work that we're doing with the likes of SK. Then get to a 28,500 metric ton production by 2025," says Cuevas.

"We have engagements with mines in Africa, Canada, Brazil, and other places that are already producing graphite. Some of them are public companies or private companies. We are focused on our sources coming from Brazil and Canada. We have other ones that I can not mention right now." 

The proprietary Urbix graphite process system offers many benefits.

"It is faster, cleaner, uses less energy, is less costly and less capital intensive. And-- it does not use one piece of equipment that comes from China," Cuevas proudly states.

"We are source agnostic. It is massive. Why? Because we don't need to be reliant on a specific source of graphite." 

Urbix aligns with the decarbonization of the entire supply chain.

"I believe that through innovation, by making products that are critical, through innovative processes that are ESG compliant, we can continue our path into decarbonizing and securing our supply chain," he adds.

Cuevas likes that competitors are setting up graphite processing facilities in the US.

"We need all of them. The first step is capacity. Capacity is the name of the game. Then when we all come online, here in the US, we need to project the goals that we have to achieve." 

Alaska -The Greatest Source of Graphite in the US: Graphite One

During World War II, there was a great need for graphite to make steel in the US. The Graphite One mine near the Cougar White Mountains near Nome, Alaska, was used during the war for graphite.

"They put the graphite onto barges and sent it down to Washington State to help with steel making for the war effort," says Anthony Huston, Graphite One CEO.

The US Geological Survey found that Graphite One has the largest graphite deposit in the US by a large margin, reports Huston.

The US has not produced graphite for over thirty years. Graphite One will be the first graphite producer in the US since then, he adds.

"We will have a process set up in Alaska to bring graphite up into a concentrate in the 90 to 95% range. For anodes, you need to be in the 99.9% range. That it takes a lot of hydropower electricity. So, we are going to move our graphite down into the lower forty-eight states, into Washington State or one of the lower states and produce it in an anode manufacturing facility," explains Huston.

Graphite One plans a vertically integrated supply chain solution from the mine, the processing, and the manufacturing of high-grade coated spherical graphite.

"We need the supercritical minerals to be mined here in North America. We need to create our own supply chain in North America - so that we are not reliant on anyone else." 

Graphite One is signing an NDA with a battery maker right now. The company is open to discussions with battery makers and EV manufacturers, he reports. Huston says Graphite One will bring the US into the 21st century, and a new energy revolution.

"At the end of the day, it is no different from teaching someone to fish instead of just giving them a fish. Why would we continue to buy from other countries when we can do it ourselves? We actually have it, and we can do it the right way," concludes Huston.