Canada’s NextSource Materials (TSX: NEXT) has completed its first commercial shipments of graphite concentrate from its Molo mine in southern Madagascar, destined to Germany and the United States under existing off-take agreements.
The company said it had exported full container loads of high-quality, coarse flake graphite concentrate from the Port of Tulear, Madagascar, to be used in high-value graphite products. These include refractory materials and graphite foils for consumer electronics and fire-retardant applications.
The shipments mark an important milestone for NextSource as it establishes itself as a supplier of critical materials to global markets and a contributor to economic development in Madagascar, chief executive officer Craig Scherba said in a statement.
The Molo mine entered production a year ago and now produces NextSource’s SuperFlake, which is the registered trademark for the company’s graphite concentrate. The product is known for its high carbon purity of up to 98% across all flake size distributions with simple flotation alone. It can be upgraded to 99.97% battery grade purity.
The operation currently produces concentrate at a capacity of 17,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) and the company has already proposed an expansion that would increase output by nearly nine times to 150,000 tpa.
NextSource has also outlined its future plans to become a vertically integrated global supplier of graphite anode material. It aims to construct multiple battery anode facilities (BAFs) in key jurisdictions, capable of producing coated spherical purified graphite (CSPG) at commercial scale.
This strategic move aligns with the increasing demand for graphite in battery production for electric vehicles and energy storage systems.
