Shaw conference, page-10

" Let the other smaller players worry about 99.995% TGC by throwing as much acid as they want into their products."

Are you suggesting spherical graphite doesn't use chemicals?..........according to Simon Moore's piece.......

Making spherical graphite from flake concentrate is however a totally new process that borders on chemical processing. The cost of refining and innovating this process has often been prohibited by low production costs in China.

As a result, production remains far from a fine art. Not only is the skill set different to mining, the process methods in place already result in huge amounts of raw material wastage (anything from 60-70%) and rely intensively upon the use of acid which carries environmental implications that many companies want to minimise.

http://www.indmin.com/Article/3238613/Spherical-graphite-how-is-it-made.html