Recently, after a long period of efforts, the scientific research team of China Minmetals has overcome the difficulty of large-scale production of multiple high-end graphite products, resolving the issue of self-reliant and control over high-end natural graphite materials in China, which attracts great attention from mainstream media. Xinhua News, Science and Technology Daily, Gmw.cn, China Science and Technology Network and other media focused on this achievement and reported on the vivid practice of China Minmetals leading industrial innovation with scientific and technological innovation.

The news coverage highlighted that graphite is a strategic mineral in which China holds a significant advantage. For a long time, China’s graphite industry remained at the medium and low-end of the industrial chain, while advanced manufacturing technologies and high-end products were monopolized by foreign players. China faced prominent bottleneck risks and had trouble meeting the supply demands of critical domestic sectors. In response to these industrial challenges, China Minmetals carried out research on critical common problems in the field of natural graphite materials in Luobei County, Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province in 2019. In the past few years, the scientific research team of China Minmetals has successively made breakthroughs in the fields of intelligent mining technology, "column machine combination" technology, high-efficiency spheroidization equipment and technology, multi-source solid waste collaborative utilization, high-temperature continuous purification equipment and technology, sulfur-free expandable graphite preparation technology, and graphite oxide static preparation technology.

From successful development of ultra-high-purity natural graphite products with a purity degree of over 99.99995%, filling the domestic gap in the supply of critical high-end graphite products, to continuous breakthroughs in key equipment technologies and product development, establishing an integrated natural graphite industrial layout encompassing "resources + production capacity + technology + new materials,” China Minmetals has solved the "last mile" problem in applying technological achievements into the industry, realizing large-scale production of high-end graphite products including nuclear-grade graphite, ultra-high-purity graphite, high-performance natural graphite anode materials, graphene oxide, and sulfur-free expandable graphite. This progress has accelerated the transformation of China’s graphite industry from a "resource powerhouse" to a "materials powerhouse."

China Minmetals Graphite Industry Co., Ltd. (Heilongjiang), a subsidiary of China Minmetals, has established the world's largest green, low-carbon, and intelligent graphite mine with an annual capacity of 6 million tons in just five years, along with a 280,000 ton/year graphite concentration plant, a 100,000 ton/year spherical graphite production line, and an 80,000 ton/year high-purity graphite production line. This achievement not only provides critical support for ensuring independent control and stable supply of China’s graphite industry chain, but also offers a replicable "Minmetals Model" for transforming strategic mineral resources into advantageous industry. It demonstrates the responsibility of China Minmetals, as a central SOE, to safeguard national strategic resource security and promote the development of strategic emerging industries.