Resumen de Asbury's 'King Carbon' has more to achieve in graphite sector

Industrial Minerals

• Stephen Riddle, chief executive officer of Asbury Carbons, speaks to Rose Pengelly about his passion for carbon, and why even four decades of experience does not mean you have seen everything in graphite. With a few exceptions, China’s arrival in the graphite supply chain more or less shut down the graphite industry across the rest of the world.Never one to shirk from straight-talking, Riddle has more than once punctured exuberant atmospheres at industry gatherings with portentous warnings about what he calls “the China factor. According to Riddle, the capex for building a graphite mine is fairly low compared with what it costs to build mines for other minerals – especially when you compare graphite to other “battery minerals” such as lithium, nickel and cobalt. The question now though is, having found all that graphite, when is it going to be economical to invest in it?”Riddle thinks that private companies may have been making inroads into the graphite supply chain, and that “this has created a situation of overcapacity in the natural graphite market.