IQS NEWSROOM

When asked about the mineral graphite, one image likely comes to mind: a pencil. This soft, dark grey, greasy material, also called black lead and plumbago, has been used to jot down notes and draw pictures for hundreds of years. Its name is even derived from the Latin term for ‘to draw/write.’ Graphite is only found in a handful of places around the world, including Africa, the British Isles and a couple of U.S. states-including my home state of Michigan. There are 3 main types of natural graphite that are all found in different types of ore deposit. Crystalline graphite is flat with hexagonal edges, amorphous graphite is very thin and flakey, and lump graphite is found in veins of fractures underground. The first pencil was composed of sticks of graphite tied together with string. As you can imagine, this early writing utensil wasn’t exactly user friendly, but it could easily be erased with rubber. It wasn’t until much later that the modern pencil-the wooden kind with a pink eraser top that we use today-became popular.