2608 2. ACTUAL SUPPLY SITUATION Figure 1: Graphite world mining production 1984 – 2024 (acc. World Mining Data 2026) Simply deriving forecasts about future developments from production data is fundamentally problematic since they only allow an interpretation of past developments. When looking at graphite production over the past four decades, no clear trend can be seen. In any case, what is striking is the fact that there has been a noticeable increase in graphite production from Africa (Fig. 1) since 2018, while European production has virtually ceased. It can also be seen that over 85% of global graphite production comes from Asian countries. It is also noteworthy that almost 99% (!) of global graphite production comes from countries that have been classified as politically unstable (Reichl, C. et al. 2025). For this reason, a careful analysis of the supply structure is of utmost importance in order to identify unfavorable developments in good time. However, this is only possible if one obtains sufficiently precise knowledge about the global distribution of deposits, especially resources. 3. METHODOLOGY FOR RESOURCE DATA EVALUATION AND ATTRIBUTION In a first step, an attempt was made to record all graphite deposits/occurrences and document them in a special deposit database. A distinction was made between active operations, exploration projects, suspended mines and mines of unknown status. For exploration projects, a further distinction was made into “advanced projects” (initial resource assessment already existing), and “early-stage projects” (no resource assessment). Unfortunately, some companies do not make a clear distinction between reserves and resources, hence published information about reserves should always be interpreted with caution. The reserves or resources of the individual deposits were collected from annual reports, stock market reports (e.g. SEC 1300) and exploration reports (e.g. NI 43 101). An attempt was made to convert the resources to the CRIRSCO standard. The categories “measured”, “indicated” and “inferred” are understood as resources. Reserves (“proven” and “probable”) are included in the resources. From over 600 recorded deposits/occurrences, meaningful information about resources for approx. 220 deposits is available. Further geological information was collected from all deposits/occurrences (deposit type, quality [e.g. lumps, flakes, cryptocrystallines], age of formation, geological - tectonic position), which was used in particular for the identification of metallogenetic districts. Geopolitical and socio-economic data were also assigned to each individual deposit. Both the tonnages and the C-grade of the graphite deposits vary enormously. The smallest economically exploited deposits contain hardly more than 1000 t, whereas the largest have over 100 Mio t of resources (e.g. Balama / Mozambique or Huangyangshan1 / China). The C-grade in active mines vary between only 1% (Corrego Fundo / Brazil) and 95.7% (Kotuhena / Sri Lanka).
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