Graphite: Extraction
Flake, amorphous and Sri Lanka's rare vein graphite
Flake, amorphous and Sri Lanka's rare vein graphite What this tab covers How it is mined, drilled or grown, and processed into a tradeable form: the main methods compared, their unit economics, by-products, and the companies that do this work globally and in India.Natural graphite forms when carbon-rich rocks are metamorphosed. It occurs as crystalline flake, the type used in batteries, as fine-grained amorphous graphite, and as rare lump or vein graphite, mined commercially in Sri Lanka. Ore is mined in open pits, crushed and floated into concentrate. For batteries, flake is milled into rounded particles, purified and coated to become anode material; USGS calls the intermediate spherical purified graphite. Synthetic graphite, made by baking petroleum coke, competes in batteries and in steelmaking electrodes. Most Chinese production is flake.
Graphite reaches users by two very different routes. Natural graphite is mined as flake, amorphous or vein (lump) graphite and concentrated by flotation; battery makers then need it milled into spheres, purified and coated, a step done almost entirely in China. Synthetic graphite is not mined at all: refiners make needle coke or petroleum coke from oil residues or coal tar, and graphitisation furnaces heat it to about 3,000 C. Synthetic graphite dominates anodes and is the only material for steelmaking electrodes. Chinese firms lead in both routes.
Methods compared
| Method | Share of supply | Typical scale | Recovery / efficiency | By-products | Unit cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flake graphite open-pit mining + flotation | most natural graphite; China mined 1.4 Mt of 1.8 Mt in 2025, mostly flake (USGS) | Syrah's Balama (Mozambique) produced 26,000 t in Q3 2025 in 'campaign mode'; a planned Alaska project targets 175,000 t a year of concentrate (USGS) | n/a | none significant (vanadium in some deposits) | Price, not cost: Fastmarkets flake 94% C, -100 mesh FOB China $460-489/t (Sept 2024); Syrah realised $625/t in Q3 2025; US import unit value for flake $1,000/t in 2025 (USGS) |
| Spheronisation, purification and coating (natural anode material) | almost entirely in China; China exported 37,400 t of SPG in 9M 2025, mainly to Korea (40%) and Indonesia (33%) (USGS) | Syrah's Vidalia, Louisiana plant: 11,250 t/yr installed AAM capacity (Fastmarkets 2024) | n/a | fines used in refractories or recarburisers | Price: spherical 99.95% C, 15 micron FOB China $2,000-2,300/t (May 2023, an 11-year low, Fastmarkets) |
| Synthetic graphite from needle coke (anodes and electrodes) | dominant source of battery anodes and the only source of EAF electrodes; share not verified | HEG electrodes about 100,000 t/yr capacity at 90% utilisation (Q1 FY26); BTR sold about 600,000 t of anode material (natural and synthetic) in 2025 | n/a | n/a | Price: UHP electrodes FOB China $2,950-3,600/t and HP $2,650-3,000/t (May 2023, Fastmarkets) |
| Amorphous and vein graphite mining | small; amorphous was 26.2% and lump 0.4% of US natural graphite imports by tonnage in 2025 (USGS) | Sri Lanka mined 3,200 t in 2025 (USGS) | n/a | n/a | Price: US import unit value amorphous $470/t, lump and chip $2,600/t in 2025 (USGS) |
How each method works
Flake graphite open-pit mining + flotationWeathered graphitic schist is mined by open pit, crushed and floated in several stages to a concentrate of about 94-97% carbon. Large flakes command premiums for refractories and expandable graphite; fines go to battery spherical graphite.
Lower energy than synthetic, but prices are low and volatile, so mines outside China (Balama) stop and restart.
USGS MCS 2026; Ecofin Agency Oct 2025; Fastmarkets Sept 2024 Spheronisation, purification and coating (natural anode material)Fine flake is milled into rounded particles, purified with hydrofluoric acid or high-temperature thermal treatment to 99.95% carbon, then coated with pitch and carbonised to make active anode material.
Turns cheap flake into battery material, but acid purification is polluting and qualification by cell makers takes years.
USGS MCS 2026; Fastmarkets 2023 and 2024 Synthetic graphite from needle coke (anodes and electrodes)Needle coke from refinery residues (such as the Humber Refinery in England, Conway) or coal tar is crushed, mixed with pitch, shaped, baked and graphitised at about 3,000 C. Anode powder is then coated; electrodes are machined into threaded columns.
Consistent quality and long cycle life, but very energy-intensive and tied to oil-refinery coke supply.
Conway, Material World (2023); ICICI Direct Aug 2025; Mysteel 2026; Fastmarkets May 2023 Amorphous and vein graphite miningFine-grained amorphous graphite from metamorphosed coal seams (Mexico, North Korea, parts of China) is mined underground or in pits and sold with little upgrading; Sri Lanka mines high-purity vein (lump) graphite underground.
Cheap material for foundries, refractories and pencils, but too impure for most battery uses.
USGS MCS 2026 Unit economics are indicative ranges from the sources named; costs vary widely by deposit, region and year.Who does it: global
| Company | Country | Activity | Volume | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTR New Material Group | China | anode active material (natural and synthetic) | 600 kt anode material sales (approx.) | 2025 | Mysteel, BTR 2025 performance report (Feb 2026) |
| Syrah Resources | Australia | natural graphite mining (Balama, Mozambique), AAM (Vidalia, US) | 26 kt graphite concentrate in Q3 2025 (first full quarter after restart) | 2025 | Ecofin Agency, Oct 2025 |
| Shanghai Putailai (Jiangxi Zichen) Volume not verified from a company report, so left blank. | China | synthetic anode material | not published | n/a | |
| Shanshan Volume not verified from a company report, so left blank. | China | anode material | not published | n/a | |
| Westwater Resources | US | coated spherical graphite plant (Kellyton, Alabama) | 12.5 kt/yr CSPG Phase I design capacity (under development) | 2026 | Benchmark Source, Oct 2026 |
Who does it: India
| Company | Country | Activity | Volume | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HEG Ltd | India | graphite electrodes (Madhya Pradesh); anode subsidiary TACC | 80 kt electrodes produced (capacity about 100 kt; TACC anode plant of 20 kt planned for 2027-28) | FY2025 | ICICI Direct company update, Aug 2025 |
| Graphite India | India | graphite electrodes | 98 kt electrode capacity (2018 figure; current not verified) | 2018 | Business Standard, Aug 2018 |
| Epsilon Advanced Materials | India | synthetic graphite anode material (Vijayanagar, Karnataka) | 30 kt/yr planned by early 2028, then 100 kt; EAM-ONE qualification plant running | Aug 2026 | Business Today, 18 Aug 2026 |
| Himadri Speciality Chemical | India | anode material plant (Mahistikry, Hooghly, West Bengal) | 0.2 kt/yr initial installed capacity (about 200 t) | Apr 2026 | Drishti IAS, 29 Apr 2026 |
India is a small natural graphite miner (17,000 t in 2025, reserves 8.6 Mt, USGS) and a significant importer (7.2% of world natural graphite imports by value in 2024, UN Comtrade). Its strength is synthetic electrodes: HEG and Graphite India had 178,000 t of combined capacity in 2018, mostly exported. Battery anode capacity is only starting, with Himadri's 200 t plant and Epsilon's 30,000 t plan.