US Army selects Titan Mining to build a graphite purification plant

Titan Mining has been selected by the US Army to build a commercial graphite purification plant on military land, which the company says would be the first facility of its kind on a US defense installation. The company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Empire State Mines, received conditional selection notices for Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) opportunities at two sites: Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas and Anniston Army Depot in Alabama.

Pine Bluff Arsenal, the primary site, comprises 245 acres, and Anniston Army Depot is a secondary location that is roughly 97 acres in size.

Empire State Mines will design, finance, build and operate the Kilbourne Graphite Purification Plant, which will produce purified micronized graphite (PMG) and coated spherical purified graphite (CSPG), the latter a coated anode material used in lithium-ion cells. The plant will draw on Titan’s natural graphite resource in upstate New York, where the company mines flake graphite and produces zinc concentrate, which Titan says makes it the only end-to-end producer of natural flake graphite in the US.

Graphite is the dominant anode material in EV batteries, and it is also used in defense applications, from munitions to sensors. Titan says the US imports all of its natural flake graphite, and that China controls more than 90% of global battery-grade graphite processing capacity.

Empire State Mines will bear all financing, construction, operating and decommissioning costs, and the Army will keep ownership of the land. In place of cash rent, the company will provide in-kind value through infrastructure improvements at each base, and the project will follow Davis-Bacon prevailing-wage and Buy American Act requirements. Construction is to begin in the second half of 2027.

“For the first time in American history, a critical minerals processing facility will be built on US defense soil, and Titan Mining is the company making it happen,” said Rita Adiani, President and CEO of Titan Mining. “These awards mark a turning point in ending America’s dependence on Chinese-controlled supply chains.”

Source: Titan Mining