Mapping resilient supply solutions for graphite, a critical mineral powering energy storage: Rice experts’ take

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Rice researchers weigh in on graphite’s rise to critical mineral status, mapping out trajectories toward more resilient, clean and efficient supply practices and systems.

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Credit: Video by Jorge Vidal/Rice University

HOUSTON – (Nov. 7, 2025) – Graphite, the primary anode material in lithium-ion batteries, has become central to energy storage technologies and a growing focus of supply chain concerns. Even as graphite demand is rising faster than lithium demand, global production remains highly concentrated and carbon-intensive.

A perspective article by Rice University researchers traces graphite’s transformation from an industrial commodity to a critical mineral, outlining emerging solutions that could make graphite production cleaner and more resilient, including manufacturing synthetic graphite from renewable sources such as biomass and captured carbon dioxide.

Featured experts:

Pulickel Ajayan, Rice’s Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Engineering and professor of materials science and nanoengineering, and Sohini Bhattacharyya, research scientist in the Ajayan research group, can address follow-up questions on graphite’s role in the energy economy, including:

• How lower-carbon graphite production can strengthen supply security.
• Environmental and supply chain challenges in graphite production.
• Advances in “green” synthetic graphite and recycling of spent battery anodes.
• How industry and policy can help secure sustainable U.S. supply.

For media inquiries or to request interviews, contact Silvia Cernea Clark, media relations specialist, at sc220@rice.edu.

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This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Review paper:

Graphite: The New Critical Mineral | Nature Reviews Materials | DOI: 10.1038/s41578-025-00848-5

Authors: Sohini Bhattacharyya, Soumyabrata Roy, Xiaodong Lin, Nicolo Campagnol, Alexandru Vlad and Pulickel M. Ajayan

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-025-00848-5

Video is available at:

https://youtu.be/uMcMcgvC0nM?si=X6Ywo-OXHMlbrccw

https://rice.box.com/s/nefxuneiztvaagw4nkqkr1zelioes3pl

(Video by Jorge Vidal/Rice University)

About Rice:

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering and computing, humanities, music, natural sciences and social sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. Internationally, the university maintains the Rice Global Paris Center, a hub for innovative collaboration, research and inspired teaching located in the heart of Paris. With 4,776 undergraduates and 4,104 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 7 for best-run colleges by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by the Wall Street Journal and is included on Forbes’ exclusive list of “New Ivies.”

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Journal

Nature Reviews Materials

DOI

10.1038/s41578-025-00848-5 

Article Title

Graphite: The New Critical Mineral

 

Canada Launches $1.4 Billion Sovereign Fund for Critical Minerals

By Michael Kern - Nov 06, 2025

• Canada is establishing a C$2 billion Critical Minerals Investment Fund, managed by Natural Resources Canada, to provide equity, loan guarantees, and offtake agreements for eligible critical mineral projects.
• 
  
• The budget allocates nearly C$1.5 billion through 2029-30 via the First and Last Mile Fund to expedite the transition of near-term critical mineral projects into production.
• To stimulate exploration, the government plans to broaden the Critical Mineral
•  Exploration Tax Credit (CMETC) to include 12 new strategic minerals, complementing existing investment mechanisms.

Canada’s Liberal government on Tuesday proposed a C$2 billion ($1.4 billion) sovereign fund for critical minerals, alongside hundreds of millions in new mining industry spending and an expansion of exploration tax credits, according to the federal budget released on April 1. The initiative aims to bolster domestic supply chains, attract global investment, and strengthen national security by securing a reliable supply of critcal minerals essential for defense, semiconductors, and clean energy technologies.

Core Budget Measures Target Critical Minerals

The centerpiece of the plan is the Canada Critical Minerals Investment Fund, which will be managed by Natural Resources Canada and is designed to provide equity investments, loan guarantees, and offtake agreements for eligible critical mineral projects and companies. Budget documents indicate Natural Resources Canada will receive C$50 million over five years to facilitate the fund's establishment.

An additional key investment vehicle, the First and Last Mile Fund, is earmarked for near-term critical minerals projects to expedite their transition to production. This fund will receive approximately C$372 million over four years, starting in fiscal year 2026-27, and will absorb the existing Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund, utilizing its existing funding envelope to provide up to C$1.5 billion in support through 2029-30.

Furthermore, the budget allocates C$585 million over four years under a new Climate Competitiveness Strategy to support various critical minerals projects. Another significant expenditure is C$443 million over five years to be shared between Natural Resources Canada and the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. This funding is intended to support processing technologies, joint investments with allied nations in Canadian projects, and the stockpiling of critical minerals to reinforce both Canadian and allied national security.

Expansion of Exploration Tax Credits and Industrial Incentives

In an effort to stimulate exploration, the government plans to broaden the eligibility for the Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (CMETC). This expansion will now include 12 new minerals crucial for various strategic sectors: bismuth, cesium, chromium, fluorspar, germanium, indium, manganese, molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, tin, and tungsten. The CMETC expansion applies to specific exploration expenditures for these minerals and complements Canada’s existing flow-through share structure, a mechanism often used to channel capital from investors into junior mining companies.

The government is also moving to replace the existing industrial emissions cap with a new industrial emissions price, which will be set by Ottawa in consultation with the provinces and territories. This measure is intended to align with Canada's broader goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Moreover, the budget proposes new incentives designed to reduce the tax on capital spending, such as on buildings for a critical minerals’ processor, potentially lowering it to 0.4%. This compares favorably to a 12% tax rate in the United States on similar infrastructure spending, according to a report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a move aimed at recouping manufacturing jobs lost to south of the border.

Industry Reaction and Market Context

The mining sector quickly welcomed the government's commitment. Pierre Gratton, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), stated that the budget confirms the federal government's “unwavering commitment to the Critical Minerals Strategy released three years ago.”

“These measures, taken together, send a powerful signal to the mining industry, global investors and Canada’s allies that Canada is very serious about improving the competitiveness of Canada’s mining industry,” Gratton said in a statement. He later added that the proposals promise to "usher in a new era in mining investment,” creating high-paying jobs and boosting exports.

The new spending and incentives are framed within a broader global context of intensified competition for critical minerals, which are vital inputs for the electric vehicle battery supply chain and renewable energy infrastructure. By strengthening its domestic mining and processing capabilities, Canada aims to establish itself as a reliable, Western alternative to supply sources currently dominated by other nations.

The overall federal budget forecasts a C$78.3 billion deficit for the fiscal year ending March 31, with a plan to cut 40,000 public sector jobs by fiscal year 2028-29. The budget requires approval in Parliament, where Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government holds a minority of seats, necessitating support from opposition lawmakers for passage.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com 

 

USGS officially adds copper, silver to critical minerals list

Staff Writer | November 6, 2025 |

Stock image.

The United States has added copper and silver to an expanded list of critical minerals that it deems to be vital to America’s economy and national security.

The new list, compiled by the US Geological Survey, includes 10 additions to the previous one in 2022, taking the total to 60. The other notable additions are: uranium, metallurgical coal, potash, rhenium, silicon and lead. The addition of copper and silver confirms the earlier draft list provided by USGS.

The USGS said it devised the list by using an economic model that it developed to estimate the potential effects of foreign trade disruptions of mineral commodities.

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

The assessment spans 84 mineral commodities, 402 industries and more than 1,200 scenarios, which the USGS says offers a more realistic and usable framework for policymakers.

The critical minerals list serves as a basis for which commodities the Trump administration will invoke a Section 232 probe for potential tariffs and trade restrictions, as it had done with copper earlier this year.

The list would also inform areas of investments in mining and resource recovery from mine waste, stockpiles, tax incentives for US mineral processing, as well as streamlined mine permitting.

The update comes just days after the US and China agreed to resolve their issue over rare earth minerals, which make up 15 entries (or a quarter of total) on the USGS list.

Can Africa ride critical minerals wave to economic boom?

Reuters | November 5, 2025 | 

Stock image.

As global powers scramble for critical minerals, African countries are pushing for new investment to process more of their own raw materials and meet their people’s demands for economic growth and jobs, analysts say.

To capitalize on the burgeoning demand, the continent must address power shortages, skills gaps, trade barriers and limited industrial capacity.

“This is an unprecedented opportunity for Africa to get on the value-chain bandwagon,” said Hany Besada, senior fellow at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the London School of Economics and associate professor at the Wits School of Governance.

Africa has around 30% of the world’s mineral reserves, including cobalt, lithium and nickel.

The International Energy Agency expects lithium demand to grow fivefold by 2040, graphite and nickel demand to double and demand for cobalt and rare earth elements to increase by 50% to 60% by 2040.

Africa needs to “build local value chains that integrate mining with refining and manufacturing and innovation, and this goes hand-in-hand with the green transformation of the continent’s economies,” Besada said.

For example, Zimbabwe, Africa’s top lithium producer, has been nudging mining companies to process the minerals in the country to help lift its economy.

“We are creating new jobs, not only in the mining sector, but in the value addition of our minerals,” Evelyn Ndlovu, minister of environment, climate and wildlife, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We have got a lot of people coming in to invest in Zimbabwe.”

China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt said in October it would start producing lithium sulphate during the first quarter of 2026 from its new $400 million plant in Zimbabwe.

At the United Nations’ COP30 climate talks in Brazil in November, African countries hope to win support, especially from the Global South, to ensure demand for the minerals fuelling the digital economy and clean energy transition translates into growth, jobs and development.

Africa “wants to be a meaningful participant and beneficiary of the green economy,” said Ibrahima Aidara, deputy Africa director at the National Resource Governance Institute.

“That means an industrial policy that creates jobs, protects rights and enables countries to climb the value chain and not be trapped at the bottom.”

What stands in the way

Aidara pointed to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which supplies 70% of the world’s cobalt, as an example of a country where mineral wealth has led to child labour, displacement and armed conflict.

Across Africa, barriers to mineral processing – called beneficiation – include a lack of electricity, high tariffs between African countries, infrastructure gaps and cumbersome customs procedures.

“Addressing barriers to trade is critical … If you don’t do that, efforts towards (mineral) beneficiation and industrialization remain aspirational,” Besada said.

Regional cooperation is also key, including initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), designed to unify all 1.4 billion people in more than 50 nations into a single market.

US President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs could give momentum to the AfCFTA, which was officially launched in 2021 but has less than half of member states actively trading under the framework.

The African Union’s Green Minerals Strategy, launched this year, and the Lobito Corridor railway, which connects Zambia’s copper belt to Angola’s Atlantic coast, are examples of cooperation that can help make Africa more than a mere supplier.

In West Africa, the minerals boom has sparked a resurgence of resource nationalism, with countries, particularly military regimes like the one in bauxite-rich Guinea, imposing conditions on foreign mining companies to force value addition.

But Aidara said this approach might not ensure lasting benefits to local communities.

“This problem … is bigger than individual countries. We believe at (the) national level we need … well-defined and evidence-based strategies to leverage minerals and create more economic and industrialization opportunities.”

Listening to Gen Z

(By Clar Ni Chonghaile and Kim Harrisberg; Editing by Jack Graham and Ayla Jean Yackley)

Japan, US consider rare earth mining near Minamitori in Pacific

Reuters | November 6, 2025 | 

Stock image.

Japan and the United States will jointly study developing rare earth mining in the waters around Minamitori Island in the Pacific, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Thursday.

Co-development of rare earth minerals was a key topic in her meeting with US President Donald Trump last week, Takaichi told a parliamentary session.

During Trump’s visit to Tokyo, the two countries signed a framework agreement for securing rare earth supplies to counter China’s dominance in the materials that are used in everything from cars to fighter jets.

There is an abundance of mud that potentially holds rare earths around Minamitori Island, some 1,900 km (1,180 miles) southeast of Tokyo, Takaichi said.

Japan plans to test the feasibility of raising rare earth mud from a depth of 6,000 metres in January, according to Takaichi.

“We will consider specific ways to promote cooperation between Japan and the United States on rare earth development … around Minamitori Island,” Takaichi said.

The Japanese government is pushing ahead with a national project to develop domestic rare earth production as part of broad efforts to strengthen maritime and economic security.

Surveys have confirmed the presence of rich rare earth mud at depths of 5,000 to 6,000 metres within Japan’s exclusive economic zone near Minamitori Island, according to an executive with the government-backed project.

If the initial tests are successful, the project aims to launch trial operations of a system capable of recovering 350 metric tons of mud per day from January 2027.

China dominates global rare earth extraction, although the US and Myanmar control 12% and 8% respectively, according to the Eurasia Group.

(By Kantaro Komiya and Katya Golubkova; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Tom Hogue)

Minami-tori Island Aerial view of Minami-tori Island, southeast of Japan.

Minamitori Island

island, Japan

Also known as: Marcus Island, Minami-tori-shima

 

Britannica Editors

 

 

History

Minamitori Island, coral atoll in the central Pacific Ocean 700 miles (1,125 km) southeast of Japan. It rises to 204 feet (62 metres) and has an area of 740 acres (300 hectares). Minamitori Island was discovered by the Japanese navigator Shinroku Mizutani (1868) and was annexed by Japan (1898). Prior to World War II it was administered as part of the Tokyo fu (urban prefecture). Occupied by U.S. troops late in the war, it was returned to Japan in 1968. It now shares a common administration with the Bonin Islands and the Volcano Islands. The atoll was the site of a meteorological station for studying typhoons. Marine products harvested include swordfish, seaweed, and squid.

Tesla co-founder’s critical minerals plant starts production

Bloomberg News | November 6, 2025 | 

Credit: Redwood Materials

Redwood Materials Inc., a battery recycling venture led by Tesla Inc. co-founder JB Straubel, has begun operations at a $3.5 billion factory in South Carolina that will supply badly needed critical materials.

The company has brought a system online that’s capable of recovering 20,000 metric tons of critical minerals annually, said Straubel. Initially founded to fill a gap in the electric vehicle battery supply chain, Redwood is in the midst of a broader shift in strategy as it navigates an expected slowdown in EV demand.

The pivot also comes at a time when President Donald Trump is pushing to onshore the supply chain for materials essential to US national security.

Taking into account Redwood’s existing recycling plant in Sparks, Nevada, which recovers 60,000 tons of critical minerals annually, the firm says it is now the only major domestic source of cobalt and produces as much nickel and lithium as the largest mines in the US.

The South Carolina facility isn’t operating at full capacity, and the company declined to set a ramp-up timeline. It also declined to provide a breakdown of how much of each mineral it’s recovering at the facility.

Redwood was founded in 2017 to recycle EV batteries and produce materials like cathodes and copper foils for anodes. The company had said in 2022 that it planned to produce enough materials for a million EVs annually by 2025 and 5 million by 2030, and it had agreements with Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Volvo, among others.

Yet its commercial cathode production facility in Nevada, which was slated to open in 2024 and produce 100 gigawatt-hours of battery components by this year, is still under construction with no announced opening date. While the company had planned to expand copper foil production at both of its facilities, it stopped producing it in Nevada and no longer plans to do so in South Carolina.

The industry has also faced challenges from the Trump administration, which recently canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to other battery recyclers. With the administration’s attacks on EVs further impacting the industry, including winding down federal incentives in September, Redwood has increased its focus on finding other buyers. The bulk of the critical minerals the company produces are going to customers outside the EV sector, Straubel said.

“The nickel and cobalt markets are largely not driven by batteries. They’re not the biggest consumers of those particular elements,” Straubel said.

Nickel is used in stainless steel; specialty alloys, or a custom metal blend for niche applications; and industrial chemicals, while cobalt is also used in a number of high-performance alloys like those found in jet engines. While he declined to name them, Straubel said Redwood sells its critical minerals to about 20 to 30 companies, including large industrial customers using the materials in products and mining companies that process and refine them.

The company has also shifted its focus to serving data centers’ burgeoning power demand, starting a new unit this year called Redwood Energy that turns degraded EV batteries into grid-scale energy storage systems. Retired EV batteries can still work for large-scale energy storage because those systems put less strain on the hardware. In June, it unveiled a modest 63 megawatt-hour system – the equivalent of about 800 EV battery packs – paired with 12 megawatts of solar on its Nevada campus, powering a 2,000 GPU data center.

Redwood raised a $350 million Series E at a valuation of more than $6 billion last month in part to speed up energy storage deployment. That side of the business is “growing faster” and is “a new focus that we didn’t really know we were going to have a few years ago,” Straubel said.

(By Michelle Ma)

Electra restarts construction at Ontario cobalt refinery

Frédéric Tomesco | November 5, 2025 |

An aerial view of Electra’s cobalt sulfate refinery in Ontario.

Electra Battery Materials (TSXV, NASDAQ: ELBM) said it’s resumed construction at its Ontario cobalt sulfate refinery after securing about $82 million in project financing.

Work in Temiskaming Shores, 500 km north of Toronto, is now under way to advance site preparations and reinstate mechanical, electrical and instrumentation systems, with full-scale construction targeted for the start of 2026, Electra said Wednesday. Previous cost estimates are being updated to reflect inflationary impacts and work already completed, and new figures will be provided in January, the company added.

Construction of the $250 million refinery has stalled since August 2023 due to cost overruns and supply chain disruptions. At the time, about $60 million was still required to complete the project. With cobalt markets improving this year on the back of export quotas imposed by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Electra has focused on raising capital to finish building the facility.

“Today, government support, private investment, and industrial policy are aligned to make completion of this refinery possible and to deliver a critical asset for North America,” Electra CEO Trent Mell said in a statement. “Once operational, this refinery will prove that midstream processing can be successfully onshored, creating a foundation for future growth.”

First of its kind

Electra’s refinery – which is targeted for commissioning in 2027 – will be the first of its kind in North America and one of just two major facilities outside China. Designed to produce 6,500 tonnes of battery-grade cobalt annually, the plant will supply a critical input for lithium-ion battery manufacturing and other industrial and defence applications. About 90% of global cobalt sulphate production comes from China.

More than half of the money raised so far, or $48 million, comes from the US, Canadian and Ontario governments. This includes a $20 million award last year from the US Department of Defense.

Toronto-based Electra has an offtake arrangement with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution, one of the world’s largest battery manufacturers. The refinery will process cobalt feedstock supplied by Glencore (LSE: GLEN) and Eurasian Resources Group.

Test work is also underway on North American feedstocks, including cobalt from the Idaho Cobalt Belt, to assess their suitability for future processing. The refinery’s modular design can accommodate future expansions, Electra said.

Electra shares rose 7.9% to C$1.50 Wednesday morning in Toronto, boosting the company’s market value to about C$137 million ($98 million).

 

South African iron ore mine to close after ArcelorMittal halts purchases

Reuters | November 5, 2025 |

Beeshoek iron ore mine. Credit: Assmang

South Africa’s African Rainbow Minerals said on Wednesday that its jointly owned Beeshoek iron ore mine will be placed on “care and maintenance” after its sole customer, the ailing steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa, ceased purchases.

Care and maintenance means that the Beeshoek mine is being temporarily shut down as the owners evaluate further options to resume operations if market conditions change.

Mining operations at the mine ceased at the end of October, and about 622 permanent workers will be let go effective November 30, the South African miner said in a statement.

Beeshoek, operated by Assmang – a joint venture between ARM and international miner Assore – stopped deliveries to ArcelorMittal in late July following the expiry of a long-term contract in June, ending a decades-long supply relationship.

ArcelorMittal South Africa had continued buying iron ore on a month-to-month basis but halted purchases altogether on July 27.

ARM said an extensive review of operational, commercial and financial alternatives failed to identify a viable path forward for the ageing mine, which has legacy infrastructure and a cost base heavily reliant on ArcelorMittal’s offtake.

“In the absence of a sustainable offtake arrangement, Beeshoek mine is no longer economically feasible to operate,” the group said in a statement.

It added that consultations with unions under South Africa’s Labour Relations Act have been completed and the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources has been notified of the shutdown.

The decision confirms a warning issued in August, when Assmang told unions it was considering closure after ArcelorMittal unexpectedly declined to sign a new three-year supply contract.

ArcelorMittal South Africa is grappling with weak domestic demand, high electricity costs, poor freight logistics and competition from Chinese imports and mini-mills.

It has also deferred the closure of its long steel plants in Newcastle and Vereeniging as it continues talks with the South African government and labour representatives.

($1 = 17.3125 rand)

(By Sfundo Parakozov and Nelson Banya; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)