Pact inked for new graphite refinery in Al Buraimi

MUSCAT, MAR 13
An agreement has been signed for the establishment of a major graphite refining project in Al Buraimi Governorate — an initiative that will strengthen the country’s positioning as a global producer of strategic materials for lithium-ion battery and energy storage markets.
An announcement to this effect was made by Australian critical minerals company Quantum Graphite Limited in a regulatory filing to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on March 13.
It stated that its downstream technology partner, Sunlands Pure Group (SPG), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Governorate of Al Buraimi for the development of a large-scale graphite refinery and related supporting activities on a 240-hectare site in Al Buraimi.
“The MoU codifies the existing and ongoing support from the Governorate and provides a pathway for the expedited development of the graphite refinery”, Quantum noted. “This integrated graphite purification and packaging facility will service global markets, including Li-ion battery anode, isostatic graphite and thermal energy storage market segments. Importantly, the MoU recognises the company (Quantum Graphite) as a critical partner and the exclusive supplier of flake graphite to SPG”.
The announcement follows a 'unified investment contract' signed last August for the development of a dry battery manufacturing facility in Al Buraimi Industrial City. Underscoring high-level government support for the venture, Sayyid Dr Hamad bin Ahmed al Busaidy, Governor of Al Buraimi attended the signing.
Adelaide-headquartered Sunlands Pure Group (SPG) is a graphite purification and advanced-materials processing company within the broader Sunlands Energy group of companies. SPG focuses on purifying natural flake graphite to ultra-high purity levels of about 99.9 per cent graphitic carbon, a key threshold required for high-performance industrial and energy applications.
Flake graphite as raw material for the Oman project will be sourced from Quantum Graphite’s Uley Graphite Project, located southwest of Port Lincoln in South Australia. The Uley 2 project represents the next stage in the development of the century-old Uley mine, one of the world’s largest high-grade natural flake graphite deposits.
Significantly, Sunlands’ partnership with Quantum Graphite also creates an integrated value chain spanning mining, graphite purification and advanced energy applications.
SPG is also pursuing a large-scale graphite purification facility in South Carolina, United States, designed to process about 100,000 tonnes of graphite per year and produce roughly 95,000 tonnes of high-purity products, including spherical graphite, for lithium-ion battery supply chains, thermal energy storage technologies and other advanced graphite manufacturing industries.