Atlas Critical Minerals Corporation, an exploration company focused on critical minerals for defence applications and electrification, has announced that comprehensive characterisation and thermal purification testwork performed on graphite concentrate from its Malacacheta Graphite Project in Minas Gerais, Brazil, has achieved nuclear-grade purity specifications of 99.9995 wt.% carbon (99.9995% C).
The testwork was conducted by American Energy Technologies Company, a highly specialised U.S.-based graphite testing and processing expert, and documented in AETC’s technical report dated October 15, 2025.
The results position Atlas Critical Minerals to potentially access the ultra-premium nuclear graphite market, where material meeting nuclear-grade specifications commands prices of $25,000 to $35,000 per tonne, representing a 10- to 15-fold premium over standard battery-grade graphite.
Details on the studies performed and their results are available in the Technical Report Summary prepared in accordance with Item 1300 of Regulation S-K and are annexed as an exhibit to the Form 6-K filed by the company today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The TRS was prepared by SGS Canada Inc., a premier mineral evaluation company, with Marc-Antoine Laporte from SGS serving as the qualified person for graphite.
Nuclear-grade graphite serves as a critical material in nuclear reactors, valued for its exceptional thermal properties, neutron moderation capabilities, and structural stability at extreme temperatures.
The nuclear energy sector is experiencing a renaissance, with over 70 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity currently under construction globally and more than 420 operational reactors worldwide. Demand for high-purity nuclear graphite is accelerating rapidly.
The International Energy Agency projects that annual investment in nuclear projects will need to double to $120 billion by 2030, with more than 40 countries expanding nuclear power capabilities to meet energy security and decarbonization goals.
The expected proliferation of Small Modular Reactor technology in the near term is expected to accelerate demand for high-purity nuclear graphite further further.
Nuclear graphite must meet exceptionally stringent purity requirements, typically 99.999% carbon or higher, with minimal impurities that could affect reactor performance or neutron efficiency.
The achievement of 99.9995% carbon purity by the company’s Malacacheta graphite demonstrates the material’s suitability for this demanding application, potentially opening access to a market segment commanding premium pricing 10-15 times higher than conventional battery-grade graphite.
The global graphite market is experiencing robust growth, driven primarily by the electric vehicle battery sector, with natural graphite production estimated at 1.3 million tonnes in 2024. However, the nuclear graphite segment represents a particularly attractive opportunity due to its ultra-premium pricing structure.
With high-quality flake graphite commanding $2,000-2,400 per tonne and spherical graphite reaching $4,000-4,700 per tonne, nuclear-grade graphite at $25,000-$35,000 per tonne offers significantly enhanced economics.
“Atlas graphite material is comprised of a naturally occurring mixture of robustly thick and very friable thin flakes… The distribution generated for the ‘as received’ sample shows the presence of +40 and +50 mesh flakes, whose presence will open a number of alternative hi-tech markets…
“For reference, many natural flake graphite mines don’t possess commercially viable quantities of these particle sizes, putting Atlas in a favourable position over their competition,” stated AETC’s report.
