The Molo mine is one of the largest

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...

mines in

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. The mine is located in

Atsimo-Andrefana Atsimo-Andrefana is a region of Madagascar. It borders Menabe in north, Amoron'i Mania and Haute Matsiatra in northeast, Ihorombe and Anosy in east and Androy in southeast. The capital is Toliara and the population was 1,799,088 in 2018. Atsimo ...

, near the town of

Fotadrevo Fotadrevo is a rural municipality in southwestern Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Ampanihy, which is a part of Atsimo-Andrefana Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 35,000 in 2001 commune census. Prima ...

. The deposit was discovered in 2011, following explorations of the nearby

Green Giant mine The Green Giant mine is one of the largest vanadium mines in Madagascar. The mine is located in Betioky Sud in Atsimo-Atsinanana. The mine has reserves amounting to 59.2 million tonnes of ore grading 0.68% vanadium. In August of 2007, the Cana ...

. The mine has reserves amounting to 120 million tonnes of ore grading 8% graphite metal. The mine is owned by ''NextSource Materials Inc'', which obtained a 40 year mining license from the Madagascar government in 2019. The mine is being financed by ''Vision Blue Resources Limited'', a battery materials investment company founded by

Mick Davis Sir Michael Lawrence Davis (born 15 February 1958) is a British politician and former South African businessman, former Chief Executive and Treasurer of the Conservative Party and the chief executive (CEO) of Xstrata plc, an Anglo-Swiss multina ...

. The mine has agreements to supply graphite to

ThyssenKrupp ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and h ...

, and intends to build a graphite battery

anode An anode is an electrode of a polarized electrical device through which conventional current enters the device. This contrasts with a cathode, an electrode of the device through which conventional current leaves the device. A common mnemonic is ...

s to sell to Tesla. As of 2021, the necessary equipment for the mine is in the process of being assembled and delivered.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molo Mine Graphite mines in Madagascar Ampanihy Ouest (district)