The potential for graphite in the UK

Graphite is a form of carbon that occurs as black to steel grey, lustrous flaky aggregates, disseminated in metamorphic rocks or as veins with a fibrous or foliated texture (Taylor, 1994). Natural graphite has several specialist properties such as high electrical conductivity, a high melting point, resistance to corrosion, an lubricity. This means it has varied industrial applications, including in electronics, lubrication, metallurgy and steel production (Robinson et al., 2017). Importantly, graphite is the primary material used for the anode of most lithium-ion batteries, and this is expected to be a major driver of increasing graphite demand in the coming years (International Energy Agency, 2021).