Tesla Has A Graphite Problem

Summary

• Graphite juniors have stressed Tesla's Gigafactory as a tremendous opportunity to sell a premium graphite product.
• The opportunity is there but the juniors aren't prepared to sell such a sophisticated product at the commercial level - they have mostly only done bench-scale work.
• Each deposit requires its own flowsheet, necessitating vertical integration and an emphasis on chemical processing that's alien to many in the mining industry.
• Tesla doesn't have to wait for the juniors: it can purchase Chinese graphite or work with a long-standing Western graphite business to secure a supply of spherical graphite.
• This will make it difficult - though not impossible - for graphite start-ups to supply the Li-B market.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/3297795-tesla-has-a-graphite-problem