Technology spurs graphite demand

The total market for graphite in North America is small, between 50,000 and 80,000 tons a year (compared with 610,000 tons world- wide). But new technology is spurring demand at growth rates of 1%- 3% annually.

With only two major producers of this strategic mineral supplying the Western world — one in China and the other in the Malagasy Republic — being the first producer of graphitic carbon in the North American steel industry’s backyard would be all-important.

Continuous casting of steel, for example, is growing rapidly in the world’s steel industry, taking with it demand for graphite. Graphite of –70 mesh size (0.212 mm) and 80%-95% carbon is preferred for this application. The graphite powder provides a thermal insulating blanket over steel which allows it to melt at a controlled rate.

Preliminary figures suggest that last year 54.1% of all steel cast in the U.S. was done using the new method compared with 44.4% in 1985, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. At the start of this year the steel industry in the U.S. reported a capacity for 45.6 million tons of continuous cast steel.

Graphite is used in steel-making, and in a handful of other applications, to raise the carbon content of steel.

A relatively new application for graphite is in the manufacture of magnesia-carbon bricks which are used to line steel furnaces. This application requires flakes of about +65 mesh size (0.212 mm) with a carbon content of 85%, according to North American Refractories in Caledonia, Ont., a leader in graphite refractory brick manufacturing.

Canada has one, small graphite producer. A small open pit mine in Notre Dame de Laus, 240 km north of Montreal, currently produces about 20 tons of graphite ore a day. But it operates during the summer months only. The mine is owned by Asbury Grafite de Quebec, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Asbury Graphite Mills of New Jersey.

The Black Donald mine, located in southeastern Ontario, was more prolific. It operated full time during the last war, producing some 40 million lbs of graphite over 9 years between 1943 and 1952. Grades averaged 10%-15% graphitic carbon and average prices were 5.37 cents per lb.

Today, steel producers in Canada and the U.S. are willing to pay bigger bucks for the slippery, black mineral. Since the Soviet Union suspended all exports of graphite to the west in 1981, prices have increased. Prices depend on all- important flake size as well. That’s why at least three junior mining companies are competing to become the first major producer.

President of Princeton Resources of Vancouver, Fred Sholz, says +100 mesh (0.15 mm) material can command prices ranging from $66 to $1,000(US) per ton. By mining the deposits by open pit methods and using relatively simple flotation concentrating techniques, production costs can be very low, making mining a profitable proposition.

But graphite has gained a reputation of being difficult to concentrate. Although it is one of the easiest minerals to segregate into rough concentrate, it is one of the most difficult to refine. Graphite is also used as a substitute for asbestos in brake linings.