Russia plans to increase production of graphite in years to come

By Eugene Gerden

Russia plans to increase the production of graphite in years to come, that will take place through more active development of some of the country’s largest fields and the discovery of new ones.

As part of the plans is the development of Taiginskoye flake graphite deposit, one of Russia’s largest graphite fields, which is located in the Chelyabinsk Region, and which is being developed by a local Quarry LLC.

At present up to 89% of natural graphite production in Russia accounted for Taiginskoye field, while the remaining 11% came for the Kureyskoye amorphous graphite deposit (Krasnoyarsk Region), which is being developed by Krasnoyarskgrafit JSC.

At the same a further increase of production is expected to be achieved by the development of the Soyuznoye deposit, which is another major graphite field in Russia. It is located in the Jewish Autonomous Region and has the capacity of 40,000 tons of natural graphite per year. At present, the Far Eastern Graphite LLC enterprise is preparing for the industrial development of the Topolikhinsky section of the Soyuznoye deposit, the reserves of which are estimated at 12.4 million tons (48.2% of the total reserves of the Russian Federation).

At the same time, the Russian government continues a search of investors for a number of other domestic graphite fields. Among them are the Noginsk amorphous graphite deposit (Krasnoyarsk Krai), which is characterized by a high graphite content in its ores (79.6%), as well as three crystalline graphite deposits: Murzinskoye (Sverdlovsk Oblast), Bezymyannoye (Irkutsk Oblast), and Nadezhdinskoye (Yakutia).

Still, according to earlier statements made by Anatoly Nikitin, executive director of the association “NP “Mining Industrialists of Russia”, the biggest hopes of Russia in its graphite sector are related with  Soyuznoye field.

Anatoly Nikitin comments:

“In terms of production potential, Soyuznoye ranks second in the world with reserves of 120 million tons, and a mineral content of almost 15%.  Its graphite reserves will be enough for almost 300 years”.

According to him, the field has already been connected to the power grid, and the construction of the infrastructure necessary for the start of production has been completed at the quarry. The launch of production is scheduled for 2026, while the total investment volume is estimated at 9 billion rubles.

Most of future output from Soyuznoye will be sent for exports. That will be important, given the recently imposed restrictions on the supplies of graphite and other critical minerals to the global market by China.

In the meantime, the Russian government, from its side, plans to provide support to domestic graphite miners.

According to recent statements of Alexander Temnov, Deputy Director of the Department of State Policy and Regulation in Geology and Subsoil Use of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, that involves the introduction of licensing of critical deposits, the development of preferential regimes for companies involved in graphite mining and processing activities and stimulation of domestic graphite demand.

As Temnov has also added, Russian graphite miners and processors should use the experience of China, where local manufacturers (which overall number exceeds 70 enterprises, providing almost 70% of the global supply of graphite), in recent years have consolidated their position and developed the common rules of a game. That ensured their active development in both global and domestic markets.

Temnikov continued:

“As for Russian manufacturers, so far, they have not yet been able to present a clear development program. There are certain ideas, developments, but we have not yet seen any systemic work that would deserve our attention also in terms of state co-funding. We will probably have to formulate it together”.

It is expected, successful implementation of these plans will allow Russian graphite producers to completely meet the domestic demand for graphite and to increase its exports.

In recent years Russia has significantly reduced its graphite exports, which declined from 4,000-5,000 tons per year in the last decade to only 1000-1500 tonnes at present. In contrast, imports have significantly increased and amounted to about 5,000 tonnes.  The main exporter of natural graphite in Russia is Taiginsky GOK.