Northern Graphite does not come out of nowhere. At the end of 2021, the company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange had bought, for 40 million euros, two mines of natural graphite to the French producer of Imerys specialty minerals. One in Quebec, Lac des Îles, which is Today the only graphite mine in North America. The other in Namibia, Okanjande: a deposit of 1.6 million tonnes, briefly exploited in 2017-2018 and today at a stop.
The graphite, a material naturally formed of fine carbon layers, serves in many industrial sectors, metallurgical electrodes for critical defense parts. Today, the attractive market is that of electric batteries, where it is almost ancientable to form the anode, one of the two electrodes which allow the flow of the current. It is all the more critical since China largely dominates the market, and closely monitors its exports.
Northern Graphite is concentrated on this niche: “We have spent the last three years developing these two sites and the company to provide, from the graphite extracted in our mines, from the material for anode», Traces Hugues Jacquemin, who managed Imerys’ graphite activities until 2018, then took the lead from Northern Graphite shortly after the takeover.
The company first placed on Canada. The displayed plan consists in building a gigantic graphite refinery for batteries in Baie-Comeau, on the east coast of Canada, which would be able to provide 2,000,000 tonnes of anode (or BAM) materials per year, supprovining in various mines. A project at 500 million euros, which Northern Graphite must soon be confirmed to hold his roadmap and produce in 2027.
159 million euros for two factories, in Namibia and France
The idea of a French project has happened afterwards, following the government’s wishes to build a domestic chain for the supply of critical metals. “”ACC, Verkor, AESC… There are several battery manufacturers in France, hence the idea of creating something for this market, with a factory in Namibia and another here“Says Hugues Jacquemin.
-In Namibia, it is a question of restarting the inactive mine – by moving part of the existing industrial buildings, including the concentrator, and by building a solar farm – and to build a factory to grind, purify and format the extracted graphite. To be usable in batteries, the natural graphite must be free from any impurity and folded in the form of small balls of a few microns in diameter (less than the thickness of a hair).
In France, the factory would once again purify the black powder – to go from 97% to 99.96% purity, via a transition to high temperature – then coat the grains of a carbon protective layer to improve the performance of the anode material. Coating is carried out in partnership with the German Rain Carbon. “”Purification uses technology without chemicals, which has been developed with a partner“, Specifies Hugues Jacquemin, discreet on the subject. The site, still under study, will be in the north of France, to benefit from the canals and join Rotterdam, Dunkirk or Antwerp.
More expensive than Chinese graphite
Large more modest than in Canada, the project aims (initially) to produce 20,000 tonnes of anode material per year, that is to supply 300,000 vehicles with 65 kilowatt hours (kWh) Hugues Jacquemin figure. In total, Northern Graphite figures the investment required for 159 million euros, the majority of which in France since the Namibian mine already exists and can start producing in 18 months.
«What blocks us today is to have a firm agreement with battery manufacturers in France“Explains Hugues Jacquemin, revealing that he started sending samples at the start of the year. On the price side, the Canadian company will find it difficult to compete with Chinese products, today very cheap, he admits. She will therefore have to convince customers of the interest in having an alternative source of supply, located in France. Recently, the Japanese company Tokai paused in March a major synthetic graphite production project carried by its subsidiary in Savoy. However, he too recognized as strategic by Brussels.
