France looks to Africa to quench its graphite thirst

France looks to Africa to quench its graphite thirst

The French plan to build six Gigafactories across the country is gaining momentum.

By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine.

In 2019 when French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced that the country was planning to develop two massive battery cell production plants (Gigafactories), I got a call from a reliable source, investor and someone with infinite information about international affairs and knowledge about Africa.

The call was about how much graphite will be needed by France to build one such a Gigafactory and that the French government was actively seeking to diversify its supply of graphite. Africa was mentioned in several high-level conversations.

Okanjande to start shipping graphite

The announcement by Namibia’s Okanjande Graphite Mine, a project I’ve been following with interest over the last four years, that it will start shipping 20,000 tonnes of graphite concentrate to a Battery Anode Material Factory (BAM) in France by 2027, thus came as no surprise.

Although the BAM is not a Gigafactory in itself (it purifies and coats graphite to produce Battery Anode Material used in the manufacturing of full battery cells) France plans to build six Gigafactories in the next six to 10 years.

Initial rough estimates are that France will need about 50 to 70 kilotons (700,000 metric tons) of graphite per year by 2030.

A lot of this material will go into producing battery anodes and battery cells at Gigafactories.

France, like the rest of the European Union, is pushing to decarbonise transportation and transition to renewable energy, making domestic battery production a priority.

Companies like Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz, TotalEnergies and Renault, amongst others, are all looking to build Gigafactories in France within the next five years.

Graphite projects in Africa

I had a look at some of my notes over the last 4 years and according to my records there are currently only 4 producing graphite mines in Africa, including Okanhande in Namibia and Syrah Resources’ Balama in Mozambique.

Then there is also NextSource’s Molo project in Madagascar and Volt Resources’ Bunyu in Tanzania.

There are about 16 projects in late exploration or early development stages, including 5 in Tanzania that I’m aware of (Nachu, Epanko, Chilalo, Lindi Jumbo and Mahenge).

I expect that there will be a lot more announcements about offtake agreements for graphite between France/EU and African countries soon.

This year after WhyAfrica’s Road trip through Africa, I will be spending  a lot of time in Europe, reporting for WhyAfrica specifically about Italian, French and EU connections with Africa and securing their critical mineral supply chains. If you are interested and have any questions, please give me a call.

And remember, continue following WhyAfrica and connect the African and European dots.

France looks to Africa to quench its graphite thirst