ALKEEMIA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with International Graphite (ASX: IG6) to create a joint venture developing a graphite processing hub in Porto Marghera, Italy, marking a significant step in Europe’s mid-stream critical minerals strategy.
The proposed venture allocates a 51% stake to ALKEEMIA and 49% to International Graphite, with equal profit sharing, reflecting a balanced industrial partnership rather than a purely financial arrangement.
Mid-Stream Graphite Production at Industrial Scale
The Porto Marghera facility will focus on micronized graphite and expandable graphite, high-value downstream products requiring high-purity feedstock and advanced chemical processing. The plant will combine ALKEEMIA’s fluorine chemistry expertise with International Graphite’s processing and product development capabilities, creating a fully integrated mid-stream platform.
This initiative builds on ALKEEMIA’s earlier efforts at Porto Marghera, where a ~200 tonnes per year graphite purification plant is scheduled for commissioning in 2026. The roadmap aims to scale production toward ~20,000 tonnes per year by 2030, employing a phased expansion strategy that reduces capital intensity while maintaining operational flexibility as European demand for processed graphite grows.
Strategic Advantages for Both Partners
For International Graphite, access to an established purification platform lowers CAPEX requirements and reduces operational risk, enabling rapid entry into downstream markets without the need for standalone infrastructure. For ALKEEMIA, the partnership expands its traditional fluorochemicals business into battery materials and advanced carbon processing, leveraging its position as one of Europe’s leading producers of hydrofluoric acid and fluoroderivatives, essential for graphite purification.
The industrial logic is clear: purified graphite underpins the production of micronized graphite, expandable graphite, and battery anode materials, placing mid-stream processing at the center of value creation, rather than focusing solely on upstream mining.
Porto Marghera: Europe’s Emerging Graphite Node
Yoshi Uenishi, Chief Strategy Officer of ALKEEMIA, highlighted that integrating purification and downstream processing in a single hub accelerates industrial scale-up, improves capital efficiency, and creates operational synergies across the graphite value chain.
Europe is increasingly focused on reducing dependency on imported processed graphite, particularly from China. Porto Marghera, with its existing chemical infrastructure, skilled workforce, and logistics capabilities, is emerging as a strategic mid-stream hub supporting localised supply chains for battery and advanced materials industries.
Next Steps and Investment Outlook
The joint venture is moving toward definitive agreements and a Final Investment Decision (FID), with both companies signaling an accelerated timeline. ALKEEMIA will continue scaling graphite purification capacity, reinforcing its role as a key mid-stream enabler in Europe’s growing battery materials ecosystem.
Beyond Porto Marghera, the partnership reflects a broader European trend: integrating chemical processing expertise with raw material supply chains to create hybrid industrial platforms that link upstream mining with downstream manufacturing.
In this context, the Porto Marghera hub is more than a processing facility—it represents a strategic pivot in Europe’s critical minerals value chain, where control over purification and mid-stream processing is as crucial as access to raw graphite.
