April 21, 2022: Developers broke ground at the site of a planned $202 million graphite processing plant in Alabama on April 19 to help reduce US reliance on imported refined graphite.

Westwater Resources and its Alabama Graphite Products (AGP) subsidiary said the plant will process raw graphite into refined, battery-grade graphite, for use in products including lead-acid batteries and lithium ion batteries destined for electric vehicles.

The project’s launch follows a plea by US president Joe Biden in his March 1 State of the Union address to end the country’s reliance on foreign supply chains to boost domestic energy security.

Colorado-based Westwater, which is focused on developing battery-ready natural graphite materials for advanced batteries, said there are currently no producers of natural-grade graphite in the US for batteries, with refined graphite used in batteries primarily imported from China.

The company said its new Kellyton plant will use a proprietary process claimed to be “safer and more environmentally friendly and sustainable than the hydrofluoric acid-based process commonly used in China and elsewhere”.

Meanwhile, the company plans to continue with exploration at a graphite deposit in western Coosa County, in the ‘Alabama graphite belt’.

Alabama governor Kay Ivey (pictured, centre right), whose state is home to auto companies Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and Mazda, said: “This plant will make Alabama an even bigger player in the fast-growing electric vehicle sector. It also creates jobs and will serve as a catalyst for economic development in the region.”

Photo credit: Gov Kay Ivey/Twitter