Problem of Vein is that there is not that much around and because of its nature (in veins) its harder to get at. Unless it is in massively wide Veins which can be efficiently mined in large open cut mines ... even so there will be a lot of Strip /waste effectively reducing the grade per tonne shifted and cost advantages there in...and eventually they may have to mine it underground which equates to ++Costs per tonne...
So although it occurs in very high grade veins it is the surrounding non graphite rock that must be mined also which will increase its cost / Tonne to mine and drag down its competitiveness. My understanding is the Sri Lanka has been mining some deposits for 100+yrs ... Are they using efficient modern excavation methods or inefficient smaller scale mining ? The latter I would think.
Interesting discussion point nonetheless...
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