Tirupati Graphite, a developer of graphite and graphene-based materials, has received most of the earthmoving equipment for its new plant in Sahamamy, Madagascar, as it looks to provide the electric vehicle (EV) sector with an alternative to Chinese minerals.

The company said it had received hydraulic excavators, payloaders, bulldozers and area graders from Hitachi, Komatsu and BEML for the 18,000 tonnes per annum plant.

Shishir Poddar, executive chairman of Tirupati Graphite, said the company's Madagascan mines "produce high-quality flake graphite concentrate," which provides "an essential alternative" to Chinese sources.

"Our capacity expansion comes as graphite demand and prices continue to increase, leading to recent media reports forecasting a shortage of flake graphite due to the global growth in the EV sector," Poddar said.

"We are focused on capturing the opportunity this represents to create sustainable value for our shareholders."

China is the world's leading graphite producer and averages 650,000 tonnes per annum. Demand has grown as the world continues to transition towards electric vehicles. 

The plant will be completed by the end of Q2 2022 and will increase Madagascar's graphite capacity to 30,000 tonnes per annum.

Additionally, Tirupati Graphite is commissioning three more plants - all of which will have an annual capacity of 18,000 tonnes - at Vatomina, Madagascar.

Together, these would increase Madagascar's total graphite capacity to 84,000 tonnes per annum by the end of 2024; this could represent as much as 7% of global demand.

The update comes after the company announced that it would ship the first commercial-scale Column Flotation System (CFS) to the Madagascan plant earlier in January 2021.