Novonix is building a graphite plant in Tennessee under US-supported efforts to diversify global supply of critical minerals. While new investments are now being made in graphite in Australia, the US and other parts of the world, Mr Burns said breaking China’s dominance would be impossible in the short term. China’s head start, lower costs and the rapidly increasing scale of its investment in critical minerals, even as the economy slows, was too great, he said. “The scale and the speed that can be deployed in China is daunting. They can build 100,000-tonne graphite plants in two years. In North...