The graphite industry in 2015: : Trends so far

• Autores: Shruti Salwan
• Localización: Industrial Minerals, ISSN 0019-8544, Nº. 577, 2015 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Noviembre)
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Following a year of severe overcapacity, weak downstream demand and downward pricing pressure in 2014, the first three quarters of 2015 have provided further challenges for graphite producers, despite declining Chinese flake graphite output in key supply regions.

    Natural flake graphite is the feedstock used to produce spherical graphite for lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery anodes. But consumption in this segment has yet to lift overall demand volumes for natural flake graphite and the mineral faces strong competition from synthetic graphite, which accounts for 60% of the total graphite consumed in battery anodes.

    Moving into the northern hemisphere winter is likely to see seasonal closures in some of China's major graphite-producing provinces such as Heilongjiang - China's largest flake graphite-producing province - where extreme weather conditions prohibit both mining and processing.