FIRST GRAPHENE LIMITED (FGR) - Inside First Graphene’s Push Into Cement

China pours more cement than any other country on earth and even a tiny share of that market can reshape a small materials company’s future. We sit down with Michael Bell, CEO of First Graphene, to unpack what it really takes to commercialise graphene at scale, not in a lab, but in customer products that ship, perform, and reorder.

We start with the fundamentals: what graphene is, why it behaves differently across suppliers, and why First Graphene’s early decision to build manufacturing capacity in Western Australia now pays off. With an established 100 tonne per year production platform, the conversation shifts to demand generation, customer conversion, and a pipeline that spans composites, polymers, conductive and thermal applications, and protective coatings.

Then we go deep on cement and concrete through PureGRAPH® CEM, where strength gains and durability improvements intersect with a decarbonisation story. Michael explains how lowering the clinker factor can cut CO2 emissions at scale, and why UK progress creates a springboard into bigger markets. That leads to the new MOU with Sixth Element, a major Chinese distributor in the 2D materials space, designed to validate and take PureGRAPH® CEM into the Chinese cement market with a partner-led approach.

We also cover the settled MITO® acquisition, what functionalised graphene oxide adds to the product portfolio, and why a real US footprint matters for aerospace and defence opportunities. If you care about advanced materials, construction innovation, and the practical path to revenue, this one is for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a mate, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Andrew Musgrave

Welcome to ASX Briefs. And today we welcome back Michael Bell, the CEO at First Graphene Limited, a leading supplier of high-performing graphene products with a robust manufacturing platform and an established 100 ton per year graphene production capacity. Michael, great to have you with me again and welcome back to the ASX Bruce podcast.

Michael Bell

Yeah, thanks so much. Pleasure to have the opportunity to have a chat.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, Michael, well it's been a big few weeks for the company. The MITO® deal has settled. You've made your first US hire, and now there's an MOU with a major Chinese distributor to take PureGRAPH® CEM into the Chinese cement market. So, before we get into the detail on China, let's just zoom out a bit and can you give us an overview of where the business sits today?

Michael Bell

Yeah, so those that don't know who we are, what we do, we are a graphene producer. So, graphene is a is a nanomaterial, it's a carbonist type product, and you use it in other materials as an additive to enhance things like electrical conductivity, strength, abrasion resistance, fire retardancy, all those sorts of good things. So, we have been pushing away in commercialization of graphene. We took an early sort of perspective of establishing capacity up front. So, we spent the first few years in existence of developing a factory in Western Australia to make graphene. So, we put that aside. We don't really have that need for CapEx to scale. We have scale, we have that capacity already. And we've been spending the last sort of three or four years solely focused on finding clients to buy our graphene. Now we have had good success when you put us sort of up against all of the other graphene producers or derivatives thereof. We have built a business that is expanding in terms of client numbers every week. We have about 38 different clients on 25 different applications. So, this is things from composite swimming pools to footwear to cement and concrete to conductive inks to thermally conductive plastics. It's quite a broad range of clients and their applications. And we continue just to focus on driving that demand in our path to break-even. Now, where the business is at today, we have, I guess you could say, we have become a bit more bullish about where we're up to and what we're doing. We've had good traction when we rate ourselves or compare ourselves to our competition. We are definitely probably two to three years ahead of people, and we're just focused on driving that demand. Now, when I say bullish, I mean, you know, we've got the basic revenue generation of the business growing, and we've got, you know, 50 to 100 clients in the pipeline that are anywhere between final development stages, regulatory approvals, marketing launches, all those sorts of things. So, as you gain confidence and start to see those converge, we start to expand our area of vision. Now we have really sort of focused on Australia, the UK, Europe mainly over the last few years. And obviously a lot of work in the UK is around the cement and concrete segment, but just across the board, across composites, plastics, polymers, all those sorts of things, we've had good traction. And we're starting to now look and say, well, all the work we've done in, let's say, the cement and concrete space, where can we apply that? What other regions can we just apply the same thinking and the results and data and accelerate the adoption? So, this is where you start to see interest in the Chinese market, the biggest cement market in the world. In terms of MITO®, you know, what can we do in the US, specifically the US, to accelerate the potential there? These, you know, the aerospace, defence, all those composite sort of markets, big opportunities for us in the US, but really needs a US presence to be able to target it and get some traction there. So, a bit more bullish in looking at those new regions, very much on proven applications. You know, work we've already done, we've got results, we've got clients. Now, how do you basically leverage those into new markets that are much larger than what we're used to?

Andrew Musgrave

And you touched on the cement and concrete, which has been a standout application for a while now. So, what's actually happening on the ground in that environment at the moment?

Michael Bell

So, we've spent probably three to four years now developing a cement additive. Now, the base sort of data says when you put graphene into cement and concrete, you get this massive strength increase. You know, you can do it in a laboratory and get 40 or 50 percent strength, you know, compression and flexural strength improvement. Now, some people want that, they just want a more durable concrete that'll last 150-200 years. Others want to reduce the CO2 emissions. So, by reducing the clinker factor, you know, the CO2 emitting product in cement. you can add graphene and then use less offensive packers and bits and pieces, but you can reduce the CO2 emissions by 15-20% at scale. Now we have spent a lot of time in the United Kingdom with this, the largest cement producer in the United Kingdom called the Breedon Group. Now we have developed a product and we've now commercialized it, and we're targeting both project opportunities but ongoing end users. So, we negotiate in negotiations to sort of see those customers come together in ongoing demand, but a lot of project work just to sort of gain momentum in the interest in that in the concrete. Now, when we look at the UK market, and we you know we've justified our RD expense based on the UK market. Now, how big is that for us? It might be a 320 to 350 million dollar US dollar opportunity. That's what revenue we could generate in that market. If we do want to sort of look at penetration, we'd say we you know it's 10% of that that we're targeting or 50%. But it's you know it's a good number. When you look at the US, they use a lot more. So, the revenue opportunity there is up towards that sort of two billion dollar opportunity. And when you look at the UK and the US, and you go, well, it's you know, big jump. But when you throw China into the mix, China is a $50 billion opportunity for us. They use 2.3 billion tons of cement every year. So even in times when the market is depressed, let's say the residential real estate market is depressed, it's still 1.8 to 2 billion tons of cement. So, it's just a massive market. So, any small piece of that equates to big revenue opportunities. So, like I said, a $50 billion opportunity for us. However, us being Western Australia-based early-stage company, the idea of us going into China is not something that's really feasible for us at this point. And we need a partner. We need a partner that understands 2D materials, that understands the cement and concrete industry, that has a presence in China and has all those relationships. So, we've been looking for some time who we can identify. And we've come across a company, you know, well-known company in the 2D material space called Sixth Element, and they make a graphite oxide that sort of operates in more sort of thermal relief pads and stuff like that, but they know 2D materials, they've done a lot of work in graphene and graphene oxide. They have a very large manufacturing capacity; they have great market intelligence and the interest and the desire to move into that cement and concrete space. So, we've been in a discussion with them. First step was a MOU to say, let's have you test it if you're comfortable with it, sign a distribution agreement, let's get it moving in China, and then eventually we would have manufacturing in China. So, it's relatively low touch for us in terms of resourcing. It's very much in their sort of court to validate. We're underway there. We're already well, well on our way through that validation of the product. We have a commercially ready product that they've they basically will take forward for us into China. So, it's an exciting opportunity, but also relatively low resource intensive.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and now let's talk about the business in the US. The MITO® acquisition has now settled. So, what does that actually add to the business?

Michael Bell

So, we have had a relationship with MITO® for some time. They were using, have used our graphene as a feedstock to create their functionalized graphene oxide. So, it has a more complex integration process, but can result in much, much stronger results, especially on things like vibration dampening. Now, we've been in discussions with them for a while, and we always was of the opinion that their product was quite complementary to ours. It just extends it. Now, for those that don't know, graphene is not all created equally. It's not a product that has a set specification. Each person's process differs and the specification differs. We have the luxury of having a broad range of graphene types, and that is dictated by size and functionality or other particles that we put onto these platelets. And we can see the benefits in doing that. So, a small graphene platelet might work in some applications, whereas large work better in others. And so, we've always wanted to expand our product portfolio. And so, their product really sits very nicely at the top end of ours and highly functionalized, highly specialized material. So that was sort of a point one. We want to broaden our portfolio. They bought a client base as well, which is revenue generating client-based, that is, they are all in our target markets. At the moment, I would say they have built a client based on more consumer goods, so skis, snowboards, lacrosse sticks, ice hockey sticks, all those sorts of things. And they've also built a pipeline of opportunity in the industrial space, defence, aerospace, transportation, and those are all segments we want, but also focused in the US. So, we typically have used a distributor somewhat unsuccessfully in the US. This is a point in time which you say, I'm going to buy that product line, but also the customer base, the opportunity base to get a head start in the US and then also it gives us a presence, both we toll manufacturers some products in the US, but it gives us a presence and a sort of a brand people know of and associate with, and somebody, as you say, we've had our first hire there to represent us and fly our flag. Now, with the intent of getting more folks into the defence industry, there is the need to have a presence in the US versus trying to do it remotely from Australia. It also raises the question of do we want to create manufacturing in the US other than what we do under a toll basis at the moment? And that sort of starts to get people thinking about how we would do that, why we would do that. And that's becoming quite a point of discussion at this stage, especially with the activity that's coming from the Defence Opportunities, DARPA, the research agency, we're having a lot of sort of discussions and interest out of them in certain areas. So, it's an exciting segment, and the US represents quite a big opportunity for us.

Andrew Musgrave

And beyond cement in the US, what other markets or jurisdictions are you looking to diversify into?

Michael Bell

So, we just based on sort of the approach we have, we do service, you know, most countries in the world. You know, one of the great things about graphene is that all of these different opportunities, it's so diversified. There is no one area that we're reliant on. So, you get lots of diversification across segment, but and geographically, you know, we there are some, you know, if you take India, there's a massive thirst for or interest in getting this new nanomaterial into their supply chain and to understand it, but it's a complicated market to service. It requires a much higher level of sort of technical support. You know, we have distributors that work across Europe. They are relatively low-touch, they get good interest in driving forward. So, you know, we have product of ours going, you know, all through Southeast Asia, all through Europe, South Africa, South America, Canada, US, you know, it's broad and so we'll just continue building on that. We're not putting one specific geographical region as focus anymore. It's very spread.

Andrew Musgrave

And with the acquisitions of MITO® and Ionic Industries alongside the Sixth Element MOU, how do you think about the near-term commercial pipeline?

Michael Bell

So, I, you know, each year as we go past and we sort of reflect on what we've achieved, it builds excitement and confidence. And from my perspective, it's more about confidence. You know, I'm a firm believer that the graphene market will reach a point of you know full adoption. There are some industries that there is no question, there is nothing that does what graphene does. So, I still have that growing excitement around that. Now, when you look at our pipeline, we have moved, you know, let's say 20 clients across into commercial purchasing in the last six, 12, 18 months. But when I look into the pipeline moving forward, it's much deeper. Some of those clients have three year’s worth of development going into their products. And some of the science that comes out of the actual data that says does graphene make a difference is phenomenal. You know, we were we've got a client we've recently put onto a supply agreement in the powder coating segment. The science in that from an anti-corrosion basis is probably the strongest science I've ever seen. And that's just getting deeper and the numbers are getting better, the convert can conversion rates are getting shorter, which is great. So, I look into the new financial year, pretty excited and I can see you know, we've got several clients with product launches coming through October-November timeframe across a broad range of stuff. I love to see that. I love to talk about it when these clients launch their products, but sometimes they don't want to talk about it, which is frustrating. But yeah, there's a lot on the horizon and just more building as we get more sort of commercial focus, having a commercial person just servicing those clients is you know that that has some great feedback already.

Andrew Musgrave

Now, finally, Michael, to wrap things up, if first of all, if you can just give us a quick overview of where the company is at from a financial perspective. And secondly, what's some of the key messages you want to leave with our listeners about the business for the rest of 2026?

Michael Bell

Yeah, so financially speaking, we sit on a you know a good cash runway at this stage. As I said before, we don't have that big CapEx need at this stage. We don't have any requirement to grow the capacity in Henderson, Western Australia. We may choose to do something more exciting in the US just in terms of sort of localized manufacturing. That is still, I guess, to be determined, but it's a potential. Also, depending how fast China moves, we may need to do something more significant there. But as it stands, we've got a good cash runway. We are head down converting clients. As I mentioned before, we've just signed a new powder coating client, and we've got sort of four or five in the next sort of six weeks or so that I'm hoping to see come to fruition. We also, you know, naturally we have, as I've said, a really broad range of applications and clients. And sometimes you need to sort of bring yourself back and focus on those that are going to generate the most revenue or the fastest revenue. But you know, the areas that people are using our product to test, you know, things like you know, batteries, obviously, is an exciting one. You know, rocket fuel tanks for membrane liners, pressure vessels for hydrogen storage. You know, we're doing quite a bit of work in perovskite cells on the wings of drones, things like that. It's just a lot going on and a lot of exciting areas, and we sort of try and keep everybody updated the best we can, but it's never, you know, never delivered as we would like or as quickly as we'd like. But we're getting there.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, Michael. Well, it's been great to chat again today. Obviously, plenty going on at the company, so we look forward to further updates in the upcoming months.

Michael Bell

Thanks very much. Much appreciated.

Andrew Musgrave

That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe, and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.