The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Part of Biden strategy to secure EV battery materials, jobs Metal Tech News - August 3, 2022
Graphite is the single largest material in lithium-ion batteries.
Syrah's Vidalia plant in Louisiana currently has the capacity to produce 5,000 metric tons of spherical graphite per year.
To bolster supplies of the lithium-ion battery materials needed for America's transition to electric vehicles, the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office is loaning Syrah Resources Ltd. $102.1 million to expand Vidalia, a processing facility in Louisiana that upgrades mined graphite into a material needed in the lithium-ion batteries powering electric vehicles and modern electronics.
"Securing critical materials, such as lithium and graphite, is essential to increasing domestic production of batteries to power the growing number of EVs on our roadways," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. "DOE's investment in Syrah Vidalia builds on President Biden's goals to secure our clean transportation future and grow the United States' electric vehicle and advanced battery manufacturing workforce."
The anode, or negative electrode, of the lithium-ion batteries that power most EVs are packed full of graphite that has been rolled into potato-shaped spheres and coated in a hard carbon shell that is thermally treated. The spherical shape allows the graphite to be more efficiently packed into battery cells, while the coating makes the graphite more durable. For EV drivers, this means longer range and battery life.
This product to be commercially produced at Vidalia, known as advanced anode material or coated spherical graphite, is the single largest ingredient of nearly all commercial lithium batteries.
The U.S. and the rest of the world, however, are wholly dependent on China for this critical battery material.
With the DOE loan, Syrah is now ramping up the first commercial-scale, vertically integrated advanced anode materials plant outside of China.
Syrah Resources Managing Director and CEO Shaun Verner said, "the loan will allow Syrah to accelerate its growth strategy in its downstream business and support the rapidly growing EV and battery supply chain in the USA."
DOE estimates that the expansions being funded by the federal loan will enable Vidalia to produce enough active anode material for the lithium-ion batteries in 2.5 million EVs by 2040.
First plant outside of China
During 2021, 82% of the mined graphite and nearly 100% of the advanced anode material made from this critical mineral were produced in China.
The only plant outside of China that produced graphite anode material last year was Vidalia, and that was only at a scale to provide auto and battery makers like Tesla with a sample to test ahead of supplying commercial quantities.
Leveraging the enormous graphite deposit at its Balama Mine in Mozambique, which produces nearly 20% of the natural graphite not mined in China, Australia-based Syrah is now positioned to become the first commercial supplier of advanced anode material in the West.
Vidalia currently has the capacity to produce roughly 5,000 metric tons of unpurified spherical graphite and 200 metric tons of active anode material annually.
This demonstration-scale plant provides auto and battery manufacturers with a sample of the product to be commercially produced at the plant. One of these companies was Tesla, which has agreed to buy 8,000 metric tons of future active anode material from Vidalia as long as Syrah successfully expands the Louisiana plant to the capacity to produce more than 10,000 metric tons of the lithium-ion battery ingredient per year.
Since the late 2021 deal with Tesla, Syrah has been working towards the first phase of commercial expansion, which will have the capacity to produce 11,250 metric tons of anode material per year. The DOE loan, coupled with cash raised through equity financing, is helping the company achieve this initial goal and begin moving toward a further expansion of Vidalia to 45,000 metric tons of anode material per year.
DOE says the Vidalia loan – the first made under DOE's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program in more than a decade and the first ever to a materials processing facility – supports the federal strategy to secure America's clean energy supply chain by increasing the availability of the critical minerals and related materials for clean energy technologies.
ATVM currently has US$15.1 billion in uncommitted loan authority to support the manufacturing of EVs and other advanced technology vehicles, as well as qualifying components and materials in the U.S.
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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