
Category Archives: Minerals


Chart: Flake graphite capacity utilisation drops below 50%
Weak flake graphite concentrate demand has forced global capacity utilisation under 50% for a second consecutive year.
Flake graphite is used primarily in the steel industry – in refractory bricks and as a recarburising agent – and as a feedstock for battery anodes.
Although there was a marginal increase in … Read more

Cobalt brings tech giants’ supply chains into the spotlight
A new report by Amnesty International has uncovered human rights abuses by one of the world’s leading cobalt producers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd, a mining group partly owned by the Chinese government, has been accused of selling cobalt sourced from child labor into … Read more

Battery grade graphite set for record year
China’s output of spherical graphite has continued to go from strength to strength in Q2 2015 on the back of strong lithium ion battery demand from Asia.
The country, which produces 95% of the world’s uncoated spherical graphite – the semi processed material that makes a battery’s anode – has
… Read more
Europe closes in on conflict minerals
- Annual “White List” to reveal which of the world’s smelters do not use conflict minerals
- Focus not on downstream users like battery and smartphone makers
- Europe likely to expand scope outside central Africa and to more minerals
An annual list that reveals the names of mineral smelters that do not … Read more
China delays flake graphite restarts
Winter conditions prolong flake graphite production slowdown; prices slide as suppliers offload inventories
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