Global Battery Materials Corp. (GBM) has shipped its first graphite samples to a US customer for qualification and opened a new processing lab in Quebec—two milestones the company says demonstrate its ability to build a North American graphite supply chain outside of Chinese production.
The samples came from GBM’s Kearney Mine in Ontario, one of North America’s only prior-producing natural graphite assets and one of the largest flake graphite deposits on the continent. The customer, not named in the announcement, will use the samples for qualification testing—a standard step before any commercial supply agreement is signed.
The GBM Graphite Lab in Quebec is designed to purify and upgrade natural graphite from raw ore, demonstrating carbon content of up to 97% at lab scale. The facility is ISO 9001 certified and can simulate full graphite plant processes. It’s managed by Benoit Briere, who has nearly 30 years of experience in the natural graphite industry. GBM describes itself as vertically integrated, combining the Ontario mine with patented anode processing technology validated at a pilot plant in South Korea. A mass anode production site in North America is planned as the next step.
“North America has very limited capacity to process critical minerals like graphite, and this announcement marks an important step in urgently closing this gap,” said Eric Miller, CEO of GBM. “Our lab-scale operations in Quebec are already producing graphite samples for qualifying customers, proving our ability to move quickly and meet urgent local demand.”
Graphite is the dominant active material in lithium-ion battery anodes, and both US and Canadian policy has prioritized developing domestic sources. China controls the vast majority of global graphite mining and anode material processing—a supply concentration that has pushed battery makers to seek alternatives.
Source: Global Battery Materials
