Post #159

✏️Koh-i-Noor's Paradise[ #MineralsInNumbers ] One does not need to be a professional painter to know how a simple pencil is designed - a graphite core + some wood around it. Given that a major part of the world's graphite production comes from Africa - namely Madagascar - we've decided to count how many pencils we could produce from Madagascar's annual output. Madagascar’s graphite doesn’t only live in pencils, though it moderates neutrons in nuclear reactors, forms the workhorse anode in lithium-ion batteries, and shows up in lubricants, refractories, and conductive additives across electronics and chemistry. 🔸 So, how many pencils would Madagascar’s output make? In 2024 the country produced an estimated 89,000 tonnes of natural graphite concentrate. To count only pure graphite, we convert using typical Malagasy flake grades of about 95%, which gives some 84,500 tonnes of carbon. A standard wood-case pencil contains roughly 0.8 g of graphite per pencil. Do the math and you get about 108 billion pencils from 2024’s output. (For context, the world makes a bit over 14 billion pencils a year) ⏩ However, with such an impressive output, Madagascar cannot fully benefit of its wealth. 🔸 All large-scale producers are foreign-owned: NextSource Materials (Canada) operates the country's Molo mine with high-purity “SuperFlake” concentrate, while Tirupati Graphite (UK-listed, India-based) operates the Vatomina and Sahamamy projects. Indeed, there are Malagasy firms with smaller footprints, but publicly reported tonnages are modest compared to the foreign projects. 🔸And where does the graphite go?Almost all of it leaves the island. In 2023, Madagascar exported about 61,000 tonnes of natural graphite against total mine output of 63,000 tonnes, implying minimal domestic use and near-total export. Madagascar does not yet have significant downstream battery-anode or even pencil manufacturing, so the concentrate is shipped to processors abroad. One does not need to be a professional painter or physician to see, how much Madagascar loses on lack of local processing. Let's hope when the dust settles after the recent political turmoil, the country will tackle this injustice. Devils Below