Critical Reagents Processing Corp (GRXXF)

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INTERESTING QUOTE ABOUT GRAPHIT: The Critical Metals Report: You once called graphite the perfect mineral. Why?

Simon Moores: It's conductive; it's a lubricant; it's resistant to high temperatures and it's a strong mineral. This means it doesn't have just one major market; it has an abundance of markets and uses. It's key to existing technologies that have been around for 100 years as well as new technologies, like lithium-ion batteries.

But despite what many think, it's not a niche industry. Rare earths and lithium are niche industries. Each year, 1.1 million tons (Mt) of graphite is produced. It's bigger by volume than molybdenum, vanadium, cobalt, tungsten, rare earths and lithium combined.

Graphite miners operate all around the world in Canada, Brazil, Europe, India and, of course, China, which accounts for 80% of production. That's a new figure that our research at Industrial Minerals has just uncovered for the new Natural Graphite Report 2012. China's grip on graphite production is greater than people thought previously.