JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The first commercial shipments of graphite concentrate from the Molo graphite mine in southern Madagascar to Germany and the US have been completed, Toronto-listed NextSource Materials has announced.

Container loads of coarse flake graphite concentrate were exported from Madagascar’s Tulear port under existing offtake agreements.

These initial container shipments of SuperFlake® graphite are destined for key demand markets for higher value graphite products, including refractory materials and graphite foils for consumer electronics and fire-retardant applications.

“This is an important step in our development as a supplier of critical materials to global markets and a contributor to economic development in Madagascar,” NextSource president and CEO Craig Scherba commented in a release to Mining Weekly.

Canada-based battery materials development company NextSource is intent on becoming a vertically integrated global supplier of battery materials through the mining and value-added processing of graphite and other minerals.

The company’s Molo mine has begun production, with Phase 1 mine operations ramping up to reach nameplate production capacity of 17 000 t/y of graphite concentrate. 

The company, chaired by Vision Blue’s Sir Mick Davis, is also developing a significant downstream graphite value-add business through the staged rollout of battery anode. Vision Blue is a major shareholder in NextSource.

Facilities are capable of large-scale production of coated, spheronised and purified graphite for direct delivery to battery and automotive customers, outside of existing Asian supply chains, in a fully transparent and traceable manner.

NextSource has long-term offtakes with established industrial partners that account for more than 100% of the expected Phase 1 production of SuperFlake® graphite concentrate and CSPG from the company’s planned battery anode facility in Mauritius.

Phase 1 is powered by a solar-hybrid power plant that is expected to reduce CO₂ emissions by more than 11 300 t/y. Molo is accessible by an all-weather airstrip and a network of regional roads, which allows access to the ports of Toliara and Ehoala at Fort Dauphin.

Mining Weekly understands that former Sasol and Royal Bafokeng CFO Hanre Rossouw will take up the role of CEO of NextSource next month.