Graphite occurrences in central and western Uganda have drawn exploration interest on the back of battery anode demand, with early work focused on flake size distribution and purity rather than tonnage.
Why flake quality decides everything
Anode feedstock requires consistent large flake and very high carbon content after purification. Many deposits that look economic on grade fail on flake distribution, and qualification with a cell manufacturer typically takes years of sample rounds.
Where Uganda actually stands
There is no declared compliant graphite resource of scale in the country. Describing current activity as a graphite industry is premature; describing it as credible early-stage exploration is fair.
The processing question
Spherical graphite purification is chemically intensive and effectively all of it happens in China. A Ugandan project would sell concentrate into that chain unless a regional purification plant is built, which nobody has proposed seriously.
What DGSM could do cheaply
Publishing the historic geochemical survey data for the graphite belts, much of which exists in archive form, would let explorers target properly and would cost the state almost nothing.