Pentagon adds graphite to stockpile list – by Shane Lasley(North of 60 Mining News – October 8, 2021)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

As another signal foreshadowing the growing demand for graphite, the Pentagon has added this lithium-ion battery ingredient to its newest National Defense Stockpile Acquisitions List.

Published by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency on Oct. 4, this list calls for DLA’s strategic materials department to acquire up to 900 metric tons of graphite to store in government stockpiles over the coming year.

Primary reasons for the Department of Defense to have a graphite stash for its own use is the global demand for this carbon material is rocketing due to its use in the anodes of lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and a dearth of domestic sources of this material already deemed critical to the U.S.

According to the Pentagon’s latest publicly available National Defense Stockpile Requirements Report, “natural flake graphite” is on its watch list of “shortfall materials” based on modeling against specific conflict scenarios that indicate a potential graphite shortfall of more than 82,000 metric tons.

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