International Graphite will provide Australia and its global manufacturing partners with high quality graphite products made to advanced technical specifications and exacting customer requirements.
Our global customers will have the confidence of knowing that our vertically integrated operations are entirely located in the secure first world jurisdiction of Western Australia, giving International Graphite full product stewardship and supply chain traceability and control. Micronised graphite for industrial manufacturing applications is expected to be available from Collie by the end of 2024. Future production of a fully purified and coated battery anode material will capture full value of the graphite resource from mine to market.
High and Ultra-high Purity Micronised Graphite
This material will be the first product line to be commercialised at Collie. It is an essential ingredient for a wide range of industrial products, such as cathode additives for batteries, polymers, adhesives, ceramics and specialty lubricants. Third-party graphite concentrates will be utilised to fast-track commercial output until International Graphite’s Springdale operations come online.
Spheroidised Graphite
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis shows high quality spheroidised graphite produced at International Graphite’s advanced Collie pilot plant. This photograph shows the size of the spheroids and the well-shaped ‘potato’ particles from the pilot plant. These are highly desirable in a spheroidised product for battery anode production.
Battery Anode Material (BAM)
Ultimately micronised graphite from the Collie plant will pass through several refinement processes, including spheroidisation, purification and coating to produce a premium product used in the manufacture of conductive anodes for lithium-ion batteries. At each stage of processing, there is a growing market for both the graphite product and waste fines left over from the production process.
What is graphite?
Graphite is a naturally occurring form of crystalline carbon and a unique material that has both metallic and nonmetallic properties. This makes graphite an extremely versatile manufacturing material that has multiple uses, from lubricants, to refractories in steel making, and Lithium-ion batteries, as well as foils for computers and mobile phones, and expandable fire resistant building materials.
Graphite’s non-metallic characteristics include inertness and lubricity, as well as the ability to withstand extreme temperatures and chemical exposure, which makes it highly corrosion resistant. It is also an excellent conductor of heat and electricity making it sought-after for electronic products such as electrodes, batteries, fuel cells and solar panels.
Although graphite has been in use since 500BC, its remarkable potential is still being explored. A new supermaterial called graphene, above left, is one-atom-thick, flexible, transparent, conductive and more than a hundred times stronger than steel. Already scientists are investigating its use in micro electronics, folding computer screens, water filtration and as a superconductor for power and data.