New research on graphite in Norrbotten could strengthen Europe’s
raw material supply

Graphite is classified by the EU as a critical and strategic raw material and is an important component in lithium-ion batteries. As part of the new doctoral project Geographite, Iana Bacquet is studying a graphite deposit in Vittangi in the municipality of Kiruna.

The project is funded by the Center for Advanced Mining and Metallurgy (CAMM) and is also part of the
interdisciplinary initiative Natural Resources for Sustainable Social Transformation (SUN).

“I’m studying how graphite ore was formed, how it has been subjected to deformation and metamorphism, and how these processes have affected the properties of the graphite,” says Iana Bacquet.

CAMM CRM is a collaboration between industry and academia, focusing on critical
raw materials. Within Geographite, graphite is studied from a geoscientific perspective, but through SUN’s graduate school, mineral and natural resources are also examined from legal and sociological perspectives.
“Within the SUN framework, there are three of us doctoral students working on the same overarching question, but from different perspectives. The goal is to work together to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding,” says Iana Bacquet.

A central part of the project is analyzing how various geological processes in the Earth’s crust over billions of years have shaped the final quality of graphite. The study will integrate a variety of advanced analytical methods to assess crystallinity,
mineral associations, and textures in graphite. This type of mineral characterization is
essential for determining how graphite can be extracted and processed in a sustainable manner.