To meet rapidly growing demand for coated, spheronized purified graphite (CSPG) for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, NextSource has secured an exclusive international partnership to develop turn-key CSPG production facilities, called Battery Anode Facilities (BAFs).
NextSource is planning a staged buildout of a series of BAFs in key geographic locations, each designed with modular production capacities that can expand in lockstep with OEM demand from key markets in Asia, North America, Europe and the UK.
Each BAF’s innovative design will be based on a proprietary and well-established processing technology that NextSource has exclusive license to, and is currently used to supply CSPG to major OEMs, including the Toyota and Tesla supply chains.
The first BAF will be located in Mauritius, close to the Molo Graphite Mine in Madagascar and along a key shipping route to the Asian market. The company has completed a technical study for an individual production line producing 3,600 tpa of CSPG. Given the modular nature of the plant, the Mauritius site can potentially accommodate three additional production lines, taking total production capacity to 14,400 tpa.
The BAFs will source flake graphite from the Molo Graphite Mine and, where appropriate, from qualified flake graphite feedstock of third parties.
CSPG is the final form of graphite used as anode material, which is assembled along with cathode material and other components into finished lithium-ion batteries for EV applications.
To make CSPG, flake graphite concentrate is reduced to micron size then mechanically shaped into spheres (spheroidization), and then purified. The spherical, purified graphite (SPG) material is then coated with a hard carbon shell that protects the sphere from exfoliation and degradation.
