Producer
Imerys Graphite & Carbon
Swiss/French producer of synthetic and natural graphite powders, conductive carbon black and dispersions for batteries and industry.
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Battery Conductive Additives & Anode Materials
50%Primary Battery & Electrochemistry
25%Fuel Cells & Industrial Graphite
15%Natural Graphite (Madagascar & Specialty)
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Intelligence
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Did you know2024
The conductive carbon black that Imerys Graphite & Carbon supplies to lithium-ion battery cathode manufacturers (the Super P and C65 grades that conduct electricity between LFP and NMC particles) is chemically and functionally related to the conductive carbon in alkaline batteries (the AA batteries in TV remotes, smoke detectors, and flashlights). Imerys supplies conductive carbon to both rechargeable Li-ion battery manufacturers (EVs, energy storage, smartphones) and primary alkaline battery manufacturers (Energizer, Duracell). During a power outage or emergency event that depletes both EV charging capacity and primary alkaline battery stocks simultaneously — as occurred during 2011 Hurricane Irene and 2012 Hurricane Sandy stockpiling events — both the rechargeable and non-rechargeable battery supply chains that consumers depend on for emergency power and communication draw from carbon material suppliers in the same Swiss village.
Imerys Graphite & Carbon ↗Concentration2019
Imerys Graphite & Carbon sits within the broader Imerys S.A. conglomerate, which simultaneously operates talc mines (for plastics, paint, and cosmetics), calcium carbonate (for paper and plastics), kaolin/halloysite (for ceramics, paper, and specialty applications), and now graphite/carbon for batteries. Imerys S.A. demonstrates the specialty minerals industry structure: a single mining company owns the geological processing rights and technical expertise for multiple minerals that underlie seemingly unrelated industrial supply chains. However, the parent company has demonstrated that legal liability at one mineral subsidiary can threaten the whole: Imerys' North American Talc subsidiary filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019 due to tens of thousands of personal injury lawsuits alleging that Imerys talc products (used in Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder) caused ovarian cancer. The litigation forced a ring-fenced bankruptcy specifically to protect the rest of Imerys from talc liability — illustrating that a cosmetic ingredient lawsuit can threaten the financial stability of the company that also supplies battery carbon for EVs.
Reuters ↗Origin2024
Imerys Graphite & Carbon's Bodio facility in the Swiss canton of Ticino (Italian-speaking Switzerland) has been processing graphite since the 19th century — originally exploiting nearby Swiss graphite deposits and later importing and processing graphite from global sources. Timcal Ltd. (the historical name for this operation) built deep technical expertise in synthetic graphite production and carbon materials over more than a century. Imerys, the French specialty minerals company, acquired Timcal in 2012, absorbing one of Europe's most technically sophisticated carbon materials operations. The TIMREX brand, established over decades of use as a quality benchmark in battery and industrial carbon applications, is now specified by name in many battery manufacturer qualification documents and technical specifications — meaning that when a battery engineer writes "TIMREX SFG6" into a specification, they have created a single-brand dependency on a company based in a Swiss village in Ticino.
Imerys Graphite & Carbon ↗