Canadian minerals company Northern Graphite has partnered with US energy storage company Coulometrics to open a lithium-ion battery research and testing facility.
The open source centre will be located at Coulometrics’ electrode coating facilities in Tennessee, US and focus on developing and testing improved natural graphite-based anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. The joint battery facility aims to improve battery performance, reduce costs and decrease the environmental impact of anode manufacturing.
The R&D centre will be open to any company, including competitors, and share research results within the industry.
“We are happy to share our experience and our proprietary purification and coating technologies with our peers in order to increase transparency, reduce disinformation, and ultimately, make better and lower-cost batteries,” said Gregory Bowes, chief executive officer at Northern Graphite.
Northern Graphite owns the Bissett Creek in Ontario, Canada. According to the Canadian firm, the creek has the highest yield of battery grade material in the industry.
“We are very comfortable that our deposit has the highest quality graphite and the highest yield of battery grade material but more than one new mine will be required to supply the electric vehicle market under even modest, conservative growth projections,” said Bowes.
