He said in some investor presentation or another that for one...

He said in some investor presentation or another that for one reason or another he grew disenchanted with the idea of mining gold like anyone else. He started looking for other ideas. At some point he was invited to take a look at the chinese graphite supply chain for batteries, and he realized that china had a practical monopoly. He saw an opportunity, so he wondered where natural graphite might be mined somewhere other than china. He eventually found the swedish resource, selling for a firesale price, with outcrop graphite ore concentrations of relatively spectacular grade.

I had not heard the battery-cutting story, but it is entirely plausible.