2618 5.3.4 by democracy Table 10 - Distribution of C-resources by democracy in the resource countries in Mio t Democracy CResources all Share in % producing operations only Share in % exploration projects only Share in % Working dem. 218.2 12.41 18.9 5.67 178.3 26.25 Deficient dem. 150.5 8.56 14.3 4.31 108.2 15.93 Hybride regime 404.5 23.01 125.6 37.74 219.3 32.30 Mod. autocracy 194.8 11.08 21.3 6.41 172.1 25.34 Hard autocracy 790,1 44.94 152.7 45.87 1.2 0.18 total 1758.0 100 332.8 100 679.1 100 The assessment of democracy in the countries was based on studies by the Univ. of Würzburg. When linking this data with resources figures, it is concerning to note that appr. 46% of the C-resources of the operating mines are located in countries that are even classified as "hard autocracy." Such concern is based on the fear that the supply of key resources could be restricted, either because democratic nations impose their own import restrictions owing to insufficient democratic or human rights records on the part of source countries or, equally plausible, because zero-sum geo-political conflict between nation-states or alliances of nation states (e.g. BRICS countries) lead to the withholding or blocking of trade in such supplies. 5.3.5 by environmental performance Table 11 - Distribution of C-resources by environmental performance in the resource countries in Mio t Environmental performance CResources all Share in % CResources producing operations only Share in % CResources exploration projects only Share in % good 0 0 0 0 0 0 sufficient 133.2 7.58 8.8 2.64 118.9 17.52 poor 361.0 20.54 31.9 9.6 250.8 36.94 bad 1 263.8 71.89 292.1 87.76 309.3 45.55 Very bad 0 0 0 0 0 0 total 1758.0 100 332.8 100 679.1 100 The importance of environmental protection in individual countries, and how it is implemented, is regularly assessed by Yale University (Block, S., et al. 2024). While it can be stated that no graphite mining or exploration takes place in countries with very bad environmental performance, it is nevertheless troubling that the vast majority of resources, both in operating mines and exploration projects, are located in countries with poor environmental conditions. This could lead consumer countries to seek alternatives to resources potentially or previously available from countries with sufficient environmental awareness with corresponding implications in terms of overall supply and demand of graphite.
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