Flake graphite is a non-renewable rare mineral, which is widely used in modern industry and is an important strategic resource. The European Union listed graphene, the finished product of graphite processing, as a new flagship technology project in the future, and listed graphite as one of 14 kinds of “life-and-death” scarce mineral resources. The United States lists flake graphite resources as the key mineral raw materials for high-tech industries. China’s graphite reserves account for 70% of the world, and it is the largest graphite reserve and exporter in the world. However, there are many problems in the production process, such as mining waste, low utilization rate of resources and serious environmental damage. The scarcity of resources and the external cost of the environment do not reflect the real value. The following sharing problems of Furuite graphite editors are mainly manifested in the following aspects:
First, the resource tax needs to be adjusted urgently. Low tax rate: China’s current graphite resource tax is 3 yuan per ton, which is too light and does not reflect the scarcity of resources and the external cost of the environment. Compared with rare earths with similar mineral scarcity and importance, after the reform of rare earth resource tax, not only the tax items are listed separately, but also the tax rate is raised by more than 10 times. Comparatively speaking, the resource tax rate of flake graphite is low. Single tax rate: the current interim regulations on resource tax have a single tax rate for graphite ore, which is not divided according to the quality grade and type of graphite, and cannot reflect the function of resource tax in regulating differential income. It is unscientific to calculate by sales volume: it is calculated by sales volume, not by the actual amount of minerals mined, without considering the compensation for environmental damage, rational development of resources, development costs and resource exhaustion.
Second, the export is too rash. China is the world’s largest producer of natural flake graphite and has always been the largest exporter of natural graphite products. In sharp contrast to China’s over-exploitation of flake graphite resources, developed countries, which are leading in the technology of graphite deep processing products, implement the strategy of “purchasing instead of mining” for natural graphite and block the technology. As the largest graphite market in China, Japan’s imports account for 32.6% of China’s total exports, and part of the imported graphite ore sinks to the seabed; South Korea, on the other hand, sealed up its own graphite mines and imported a large number of products at low prices; The annual import volume of the United States accounts for about 10.5% of China’s total export volume, and its graphite resources are protected by legislation.
Third, the processing is too extensive. The properties of graphite are closely related to the size of its scales. Different sizes of flake graphite have different uses, processing methods and application fields. At present, there is a lack of research on graphite ore technology with different characteristics in China, and the distribution of graphite resources with different scales has not been ascertained, and there is no corresponding deep processing method. The recovery rate of graphite beneficiation is low, and the yield of large flake graphite is low. The resource characteristics are unclear, and the processing method is single. As a result, the large-scale flake graphite can not be effectively protected and the small-scale flake graphite can not be effectively utilized during the processing, resulting in a huge waste of valuable strategic resources.
Fourth, the price difference between import and export is amazing. Most of the natural flake graphite products produced in China are the most primary processed products, and the research and development and production of high value-added products are obviously lacking. Take high purity graphite as an example, foreign countries take the lead in high purity graphite with their technological advantages, and block our country in graphite high-tech products. At present, China’s high purity graphite technology can barely reach the purity of 99.95%, and the purity of 99.99% or more can only be completely dependent on imports. In 2011, the average price of natural flake graphite in China was about 4,000 yuan/ton, while the price of more than 99.99% imported from high purity graphite exceeded 200,000 yuan/ton, and the price difference was amazing.
Post time: Mar-27-2023