Titan starts work to commission US graphite facility

Titan Mining (TSX: TI) said it will start commissioning a new graphite demonstration facility in upstate New York – a key step toward building the first integrated US graphite supply chain in more than 70 years.

Commissioning of the plant is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter, Vancouver-based Titan said Tuesday in a statement. Product qualification and sales should start early next year.

The facility – located on Titan’s Empire State mine property in Gouverneur, NY, next to an operating zinc mill – is designed to process natural flake graphite from the company’s Kilbourne graphite mine. Titan, the fourth-largest zinc producer in the US, aims to supply graphite for battery, defense and industrial applications. The plant is about 170 km north of Syracuse.

“Today marks a pivotal moment for US graphite independence,” Titan CEO Rita Adiani said in the statement. “We have fast-tracked the construction of the facility which represents a critical step toward establishing a secure, domestic supply of graphite in the United States.”

All the natural graphite used in the US is imported, with China accounting for about half of supply. Both the US Department of Energy and the Department of Defense have designated graphite as a critical mineral for batteries, semiconductors, and defense systems.

Planned expansion

Titan’s new facility will initially be capable of producing 1,200 tonnes of graphite a year. A planned expansion to 40,000 tonnes would enable Titan to supply about half of the domestic natural graphite market, according to the company.

Federal and state officials, including Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, State Senator Mark Walczyk and Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush, toured the site last week.

Kilbourne was discovered in 2023. The deposit comprises an open pit constrained inferred resource of 22 million short tons at an average grade of 2.91% graphitic carbon for contained graphite of 653,000 tons, Titan said in its maiden resource estimate in December.

Titan shares rose 0.7% to C$1.46 Tuesday morning in Toronto, giving the company a market value of about C$199 million.