Evion Group NL (ASX:EVG) has revealed that the ramp up period has largely concluded and initial production is around the corner at the newly constructed expandable graphite facility located in India.
It is anticipated that production will steadily increase over the next few months and achieve full production capacity of at least 150 tonnes of production in the short term.
Planning is also underway for a further expansion to scale to satisfy strong demand for Evion’s high quality expandable graphite project.
Planned increases to production are in response to very strong demand which could see the JV become one of the world’s largest producers of Expandable Graphite outside of China – supplying expanding markets in Europe, the USA and South East Asia
“We’re delighted with progress of our JV operations in India over the last few months. There has been a substantial amount of testing and refining to production processes to ensure we produce a range of premium products to meet the ever-growing demand for our product,” Evion Managing Director, David Round, said.
“Apart from selling to Europe, we have extensive enquiries from buyers in the USA and Asia and this gives us great confidence that we should move forward and increase the plant’s production output.
“I plan to be on site over the next few weeks and look forward to publishing an extensive release and videos demonstrating the potential for this world class downstream graphite facility”
Impact of China ban in 2024
The result of China’s ban on graphite exports is expected to see a substantial increase in demand for graphite material from existing and new markets able to supply world class material at competitive prices.
China’s exports of natural graphite plummeted in December 2023 following imposed controls at the start of the month, tightening China’s grip on the supply of minerals vital to advanced manufacturing, Reductions in exports continued for the first quarter of 2024 which has resulted in increased prices for graphite concentrate and many downstream produced materials.
