Titan Mining to Start Shipping First Graphite Product and Feasibility Study Underway for 40,000 tpa Integrated Kilbourne Graphite Project
Titan Transitions from Zinc Producer to U.S. Graphite Powerhouse with Federal Backing
The most recent news (March 11, 2026) announces that Titan Mining has commenced shipping graphite concentrate from its demonstration facility at the Empire State Mine (ESM) in New York. Simultaneously, the company has launched a fully-funded Feasibility Study (FS) for the Kilbourne Graphite Project, targeting a commercial capacity of 40,000 tonnes per annum (tpa). The FS is co-funded by the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) under the "Make More in America" initiative. Customer qualification shipments are currently underway, and a final construction decision is anticipated for late 2026 or early 2027.
The news is Routine - Positive. While the commencement of shipments and the launch of the FS are critical milestones, they are strictly in line with the roadmap established in late 2025. - Execution on Guidance: The company successfully met its Q1 2026 target for customer qualification shipments, proving operational reliability of the demonstration plant. - De-risking: The "fully-funded" nature of the FS (via the US$5.5M EXIM facility announced Dec 2025) prevents near-term dilution for this specific technical milestone. - Strategic Positioning: The news reinforces Titan’s status as the only "end-to-end" natural flake graphite producer in the U.S., a position significantly strengthened by the 160% anti-dumping duties on Chinese imports announced in February 2026. - Scale: Moving from a 1,200 tpa demo scale to a 40,000 tpa commercial scale represents a ~33x increase in capacity, which is essential to meet the projected 50% of U.S. demand.
Titan Mining operates the Empire State Mine (ESM) in New York, a high-grade zinc producer. Its transformative growth driver is the Kilbourne Graphite Project, located adjacent to the zinc operations. - Flagship: Kilbourne Graphite Project. - PEA Economics (Dec 2025): After-tax NPV7% of US$513M and IRR of 37%. - Synergy: The graphite project leverages existing ESM infrastructure (mill, power, permits, and workforce), significantly lowering the barrier to entry compared to greenfield peers.