Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Chemical entered into a multi-year binding offtake agreement with Canadian miner, NextSource Materials, for the supply of coated spherical purified graphite (CSPG).

Under the agreement, NextSource will supply Mitsubishi with 9ktpy CSPG, which will undergo further processing at Mitsubishi’s Japanese site to produce natural graphite active anode material (AAM) exclusively aimed at OEMs serving the North American EV market.

NextSource plans to source CSPG from its vertically integrated battery anode facility (BAF) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a nameplate capacity of 20ktpy CSPG.

According to NextSource, the initial plan to develop the facility in Mauritius was revised in June 2025 due to the prolonged and costly nature of the process.

NextSource’s BAF will source graphite concentrate feedstock from its Molo mine in Madagascar and will utilise a coating process verified by Toyota and Tesla.

The company has secured an additional offtake agreement with South Korean manufacturer POSCO for 15ktpy CSPG. By routing material from Madagascar to the UAE to Japan/South Korea, NexSource’s partnered companies will avoid the US preliminary antidumping duty of 93.5% recently imposed on Chinese AAM.

Considering ongoing trade barriers between the USA and China, such developments may indicate a shift to reduce reliance on Chinese supply chains and align with rising graphite demand from the US EV industry.

This is also evident from the growing number of mine-to-anode projects underway in the USA, including Titan Mining’s Kilbourne graphite mine project, with commissioning expected in Q4 2025.