ASX SER = Large Flake Graphite

[Sparty]

I have cut and pasted a snippet from a 4 page article about Investing in Graphite.

We will see a lot of information about graphite over the next few years as it is coming into a supply side crunch and it is an integral part of the Lithium battery story. Modern Lithium batteries contain 20 times as much graphite as lithium and the graphite used is "large flake".

The politics surrounding graphite are much the same as those in the Rare Earths with China having placed itself in a dominant position.

Events, Trends, and Issues: Worldwide demand for graphite slowly began to increase during the last half of 2009 and continued increasing steadily throughout 2010 and into 2011. This increase resulted from the improvement of global economic conditions and its impact on industries that use graphite. Principal import sources of natural graphite were, in descending order of tonnage, China, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, and Madagascar, which combined accounted for 99% of the tonnage and 92% of the value of total imports. Mexico provided all the amorphous graphite, and Sri Lanka provided all the lump and chippy dust variety. China, Canada, and Brazil were, in descending order of tonnage, the major suppliers of crystalline flake and flake dust graphite.
During 2011, China produced the majority of the world’s graphite, and China’s graphite production is expected to continue to increase.

Advances in thermal technology and acid-leaching techniques that enable the production of higher purity graphite powders are likely to lead to development of new applications for graphite in high-technology fields. Such innovative refining techniques have enabled the use of improved graphite in carbon-graphite composites, electronics, foils, friction materials, and special lubricant applications. Flexible graphite product lines, such as graphoil (a thin graphite cloth), are likely to be the fastest growing market. Large-scale fuel-cell applications are being developed that could consume as much graphite as all other uses combined.



Snippet from Investing in Graphite: I also like Strategic Energy Resources Ltd. (SER:ASX), a junior Australian resource company (market cap AUD$37m ) with mineral and oil and gas projects.

One of its projects is the Uley graphite deposit, one of the largest graphite deposits in the world ~JORC 4m tons.

It was a previously producing mine that was shut down in about 1993 due to weak graphite prices.

It's 100% flake graphite and open pittable; in fact, it's more of an earth-moving operation than a mining operation.

It has a plant on site that will probably have to be updated a little bit, but Strategic could be up and running next year. The permits are in place. It has great infrastructure. It's going to be another low-cost, high-margin operation.

I hold SER

[Sparty]

This is a very useful resource put together by Jack Lifton and Gareth Hatch. Note that the Uley deposit is 100% flake graphite.