Slocan Valley’s Eagle Graphite to expand production to meet demand

Thanks to an increased demand for lithium batteries and new restrictions on the export of graphite from China, the B.C. resource industry is looking to benefit from the rising prices of the commodity. Just a few years ago, a tonne of large flake graphite sold for US$500 to $600, now the price has jumped to US$2,500 to $3,000.

Eagle Graphite, a Courtenay, B.C.-based resource company, owns and operates Western Canada’s only graphite mine in the Kootenays. The company anticipates being ahead of the curve as demand spikes.

“With current orders exceeding our ability to produce . . . we feel the time is right to expand production to several times our present capacity,” Eagle Graphite’s president, Jamie Deith, told Business in Vancouver recently.

Eagle Graphite is one of only two natural flake graphite mines operating in North America, the company is a privately held Canadian corporation with production facilities located near the city of Nelson in the Slocan Valley.  The operation re-opened in 2007 and operates to the highest environmental standards, Eagle Graphite produces high-carbon flake graphite for the worldwide market.

Source: BIV