QC GRAPHITE SPECIAL ?Synthetic Graphite is, plain carbon.
One has to remove O2 to activate inorder to make it conductive.
Used as activate carbon or.... combine with other metals = carbide.
Natural Graphite = Allotropes
Carbon 14 family + metalloids even aluminum + sulphur
some resesrch papers say, allotropes mixed with graphite lattice can be indistinguishable.
Hard to detect.
Synthetic black Carbon wieghs - 2266 Kg per cubic meter
QC Graphite pegged 2.8 - 3.2 tonnes per cubic meter
One's pitch black with lessor wieght
Other is metallic grey and wieghs more per cubic meter.
Elements exhibiting allotropy include
tin, carbon, sulfur, phosphorus, and oxygen
Example -
Manganese per tonne - $ 1,790 usd mt
Tin per tonne - $ 34, 129 usd mt
Black carbon + manganese + labor to convert to = manganese carbide
= very pricey
Same with,
carbon sulphate, carbon phosphate, aluminum carbide, etc....
Just what exactly is in QC natural graphite ?
Metallic grey appearence and if some research papers say it's hard to detect
allotropes... what should one do ?
Test large flakes that first have to be sphercized ?
No.
Take a sample, fine grind it to 800+ microns.
Apply thick smear coat and test it's conductivity.
Then compare with activated carbon.
Hunch ?
Natural graphite could have several other allotropes already baked in.
Nature absorbed the cost of making carbon nonmetals, metalloids.
Could be far more conductive than, plain activated carbon.
Diamond = Silicon carbide
1 silicon + 4 carbon outer valances
In GEM's Berkwood deposits there's upto 40% Si
which begs... how much quartz silicate adjacent to graphite veins are
= silicon carbide / moissanite ...?
Aluminum = 3 charge
Sulphur = 6 - 12 charge
Manganese 3 - 7 charge
Tin - 2 - 4 charge
etc....
So why is the graphite industry
allowing petcoke to saueeze in on natural graphite ?
That's essentially reducing natural graphite to petcoke carbon potentially overlooking
indistinguishable ( hidden ) allotropes.
Lab firing LOI tests don't cut the mustard.
Conductivity - fine grind, thick smear would reveal lots.
Imagine if QC graphite juniors performed conductivity tests on,
carbon black then compared heavy metallic gray graphite.
Which would be more conductive ?
Shoild natural graphite have it's own spot price ?
No...not by flake sizing rather..... conductivity charge testing.
If natural graphite were more conductive...
It would mean.... petcoke industry would have to formulate
remove O2 cost + black carbon + manganese or aluminum cost + furnace carbide cost
= $$$$$
What's the real price of natural graphite ?
QC Cgr juniors should perform the simple tests to find out.
Example
Carbon Black 8 charge
Natural Graphite 32 charge
Use deductive skills to know what elements are adding more charge.
Or... continue allowing market to peg natural graphite with plain carbon prices
based on carbon content while dismissing allotrope carbons.
Kind of like Benchmark...lol
Carbon center isle.
https://res.cloudinary.com/benchmarkminerals/images/w_1448,h_2556,c_scale/f_auto,q_auto/v1699363722/www-production/Nat-and-Syn-Graphite-Infographic-1/Nat-and-Syn-Graphite-Infographic-1.jpg?_i=AA
https://www.metal.com/Tin
https://www.metal.com/Manganese
Must convert CNY to USD
Cheers....