Thread by @Jkoozi1

@TwinTurboCe1ica 1/ This is a very nuanced topic. First, to the pricing point - pricing of what? Say natural flake. Okay so, what type of natural flake, what quality, where is it produced, is it vertically integrated, which supply chain is it feeding, what end product is it creating?

@TwinTurboCe1ica 2/ all of this affects flake graphite concentrate price. Then you need to look at synthetic vs flake as less of a "substition" and more of a balance, see image attached.

@TwinTurboCe1ica 3/ Understanding sythentic graphite is important. Artificial graphite for battery anodes (need to be specific here) is better than natural graphite in efficiency, cycle life, the way it can be curated, morphology, sometimes conductivity and the way it reacts to coatings.

@TwinTurboCe1ica 4/ The downside is cost due to energy prices, hence why production is shifted to locations with easy access to low cost renewable power. Some sources say in 2021, Chinese artificial graphite shipments were 605kt, a 97% yoy increase, accounting for 84% of the market.

@TwinTurboCe1ica 5/ other sources have the balance a lot more even than that. It depends where you look and who they quote, remember #graphite is a very, very shady industry. Remember, flake graphite for BAM is a market in of itself, not to be compared generally as a natural graphite market.

@TwinTurboCe1ica 6/ China is improving it's own ESG standards and cracking down on poor envionmental conditions which is improving pricing conditions to a degree, there were significant environemtal issues in 2020 that helped trigger this. Graphite mining is very dirty, processing even worse.

@TwinTurboCe1ica 7/ Flake graphite suitable for BAM is coming off a extremely small base tonnage wise and China are net importers of high grade natural flake graphite, importing 324,800t worth of high grade natty g in 2018.

@TwinTurboCe1ica 8/ Battery anode producers want tracability right down to the mine site due to the chemical properties of the graphite. #synthetic #graphite is dirty, polluting, and expensive in contrast to #natural graphite but is by far superior and easier to create.

@TwinTurboCe1ica 9/ Natural graphite has legs to grow as the market enters a new stage of visibility with new entrants making ex-China supply chains. This is why I'm so bullish $BKT.ax - Tanzanina > South Korea via POSCO for module 1, straight to the US for Module 2.

@TwinTurboCe1ica 10/ Ex-China supply chains are a whole new industry, literally! They don't really exist at the moment (for BAM product). CSPG is an exciting new field.

@TwinTurboCe1ica I'll shut up now.