Graphite - A Versatile Mineral
Graphite is an extremely versatile, naturally occurring mineral composed of pure carbon. It is mined around the world including China, India, Sri Lanka, Brazil and North Korea.
Flake graphite is produced when carbon material is subjected to high temperature and pressure resulting from metamorphic processes such as regional metamorphism in the Earth’s crust and upper mantle. The carbon forms hexagonal arrays of layers bonded together with strong covalent bonds with weak Van der Waals interactions. These structures make graphite extremely stable and able to hold a large number of electrons in parallel. This property makes it ideal for lubrication and electrical conductivity.
Graphite can be mined as veins, seams or flake. The latter is the most common form of commercially available graphite and comes in four different sizes: jumbo flake, large flake, medium flake and fine flake. It is usually purer than amorphous graphite and typically priced higher since it has more uses. Purity ranges from around 80% to 99.9+%.
Amorphous graphite is often used as a refractory, moulding and casting material. It is also used in the steel industry as a carbon raiser. In addition it is found in brake linings and clutch materials as well as pencil lead. Pencil lead is normally made from the lowest quality amorphous graphite.
The biggest buyer of natural amorphous graphite is the auto industry. Electric, hybrid and fuel cell cars all require flake graphite as a critical component in their batteries. Until recently amorphous graphite production was focused on China where 75-80% of the world’s supply is currently mined. Supply concerns relating to China have led to the European Union including graphite on a list of 14 “critical raw materials” that could face supply risks.
