Graphite

What graphite is

The graphite chain runs from mined natural flake and graphitizable carbon precursors through purification, particle processing, and graphitization to battery-grade anode material. Both routes — natural and synthetic — end at the anode material that lithium-ion batteries require.

Element tracked: Carbon (graphite) (C), Lithium (Li)

Why it is critical

China mined an estimated 1.27 million tons of natural graphite in 2024 — roughly four-fifths of world production — and dominates downstream processing into battery-grade anode material. The United States mined none, was 100% net import reliant, and saw its first commercial spherical graphite production only in February 2024.

Commercial product forms

Supply-chain stages

Two routes reach the same product. Natural flake is mined, purified and shaped; synthetic graphite is made by graphitizing a carbon precursor. Both end at battery anode material.

U.S. and global production

• China's natural graphite mine production was an estimated 1,270,000 metric tons in 2024, the world's largest by far (next largest: Madagascar at 89,000 tons and Mozambique at 75,000 tons). (reported, as of Mar 1, 2025)
• Natural graphite was not produced in the United States in 2024; apparent consumption was an estimated 52,000 tons with 100% net import reliance. (reported, as of Mar 1, 2025)
• In February 2024 a company began commercial production of spherical graphite in Vidalia, Louisiana, with an initial capacity of 11,300 tons per year and a definitive feasibility study underway to expand to 45,000 tons per year. (reported, as of Mar 1, 2025)

Known deposits

USGS carries 10 graphite sites in its national mineral deposit database, across 7 states: 4 with published resource estimates and 8 with recorded past production, some of it from the 1850s. The largest by a wide margin is Graphite Creek in Alaska. Full records, with the resource figures and their sources, are on the deposits page.

Separately, USGS designates 28 graphite focus areas — places where it is acquiring new mapping and geophysics because the geology is favorable. 25 of them sit in metamorphic systems, the setting that hosts most flake graphite. These are areas of interest, not discoveries.

Sources: USMIN Mineral Deposit Database graphite features (each citing Karl and others, 2022, doi:10.5066/P99RK9SU) and U.S. Geological Survey Earth MRI, GIS, supplemental data table, and references for focus areas of potential domestic resources of critical minerals and related commodities in the United States and Puerto Rico (ver. 2.0, April 2024), ScienceBase item 610438e7d34ef8d7055fbcae. The deposit database is a curated national set, not every graphite showing; see what the deposits page covers.

Mines and feedstock projects

Processing, anode, and recycling facilities

Purification

Particle processing

Graphitization (synthetic route)

Anode finishing

Recycling

Project capacity staircase

Only capacities a source states, with their basis. Absence of a figure means no source publishes one.

Federal and allied programs

Open opportunities

No graphite or anode-material opportunity is currently open in the monitored systems. The historical solicitations that built this chain are in the full ledger.

Full opportunity ledger →

Awards, loans, and procurements

Trade and policy timeline

1. Dec 20, 2017 · Executive Order 13817 — A Federal Strategy To Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals Amended
2. May 18, 2018 · USGS/Interior Critical Minerals List — 2018, 2022, and 2025 Revisions Amended
3. Sep 30, 2020 · Executive Order 13953 — National Emergency on Reliance on Critical Minerals From Foreign Adversaries Announced
4. Feb 24, 2021 · Executive Order 14017 — America's Supply Chains (100-Day Reviews) Announced
5. Jun 14, 2022 · Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) Announced
6. Oct 20, 2023 · China's export controls on graphite items (MOFCOM/GAC Announcement No. 39 of 2023 and later measures) Amended
7. Apr 11, 2024 · EU Critical Raw Materials Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1252) Effective
8. May 6, 2024 · US Treasury treatment of graphite as an impracticable-to-trace battery material under the section 30D foreign-entity-of-concern rules Amended
9. May 14, 2024 · Section 301 tariff increase on Chinese natural graphite to 25 percent, effective 1 January 2026 Effective
10. Dec 18, 2024 · US antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on Active Anode Material from China (2024-2026): concluded without orders Rescinded
11. Mar 20, 2025 · Executive Order 14241 — Immediate Measures To Increase American Mineral Production Amended
12. Apr 15, 2025 · Section 232 Action on Processed Critical Minerals and Derivative Products (EO 14272 and Proclamation 11001) Amended
13. Feb 24, 2026 · US antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on Large Diameter Graphite Electrodes from China and India (2026, live) Announced
14. Aug 6, 2026 · BIS DPAS Directive Allocation Order — domestic sales requirement for black mass (2026) Effective

Briefings on this chain

• DOE cancelled Anovion’s $117 million graphite award after $13.8 million had gone out the door · Aug 13, 2026
• The US found Chinese anode graphite dumped and subsidized, then imposed no duties · Aug 13, 2026

Recent changes

1. Sep 22, 2026 · US antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on Large Diameter Graphite Electrodes from China and India (2026, live) · announced
2. Aug 27, 2026 · BIS DPAS Directive Allocation Order — domestic sales requirement for black mass (2026) · effective
3. Aug 12, 2026 · Tokai COBEX Savoie BAM4EVER Battery Anode Material Plant (Vénissieux) — BAM4EVER (Phase I&II) battery anode material line · operating
4. Aug 7, 2026 · EXIM Approval of an Approximately $25 Million Direct Loan to Westwater Resources for the Kellyton Graphite Plant (August 2026) · conditional-commitment
5. Aug 6, 2026 · BIS DPAS Directive Allocation Order — domestic sales requirement for black mass (2026) · announced
6. Jul 30, 2026 · US antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on Large Diameter Graphite Electrodes from China and India (2026, live) · effective
7. Jul 23, 2026 · Renascor Purified Spherical Graphite Facility, Bolivar — PSG demonstration plant (HF-free purification) · commissioned
8. Jul 23, 2026 · Syrah Balama Graphite Operation — Open-pit mine and flotation concentrator · operating
9. Jun 30, 2026 · Westwater Kellyton Graphite Plant — Phase I CSPG plant (under construction) · under-construction
10. Jun 30, 2026 · Westwater Kellyton Graphite Plant — R&D lab and CSPG qualification line · operating
11. Jun 25, 2026 · Kilbourne Graphite Purification Plant, Anniston Army Depot — Kilbourne purification circuit, secondary site (conditionally leased) · announced
12. Jun 25, 2026 · Kilbourne Graphite Purification Plant, Anniston Army Depot — Kilbourne CSPG finishing, secondary site (conditionally leased) · announced

Full change log →

Sources and update history

This chain covers 35 facilities across 12 countries. Freshness floor for this hub's own claims: Aug 12, 2026. Every facility, instrument, opportunity, and policy record linked above carries its own sources and verification dates; see the methodology for the rules.