China Card

Currently, graphite is mostly mined and processed in China. But graphite pollution is severely affecting their environment, so the Chinese are cutting back on production – and closing dozens of mines in the process.

At the same time, the Gigafactory will require the output of six to nine new graphite mines to supply it.

That’s a real problem, considering that no significant new mines outside of China have been opened since the 1980s.

Luckily, that’s now changing… as new graphite projects are now underway outside of China. And all are being undertaken by junior mining companies.

Here are three companies in particular that seem to be ahead of their peers.

Flinders Resources (Toronto: FDR): This company owns 100% of the Kringle graphite mine in Sweden. It can produce 13,000 tons of large flake graphite per year, and production is expected to restart in July.

Focus Graphite (Toronto: FMS): This company’s Lac Knife deposit in northern Quebec is the richest deposit in the world. Total annual production there, when started, may be in the 45,000 ton-per-year range. It also has the industry’s first offtake deal, a 10-year contract with a Chinese company that will buy 20,000 to 40,000 tons per year.

Northern Graphite (Toronto: NGC): With its very advanced stage large-flake (but low-grade) deposit in Ontario, commercial production for NGC should begin late next year. It’s the only junior company to successfully produce and test spherical graphite for lithium-ion batteries.