It’s gone from a “ghost" plant sitting idle for 20 years to a company worth almost $80 million, and there’s high hopes from backers including Macquarie ­Private Wealth and the family of the late Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt .

Valence Industries is poised to restart production from a refurbished graphite plant which was mothballed by a previous owner in 1993, as the ­company seeks to ride the wave of ­fast-changing technology which has made graphite a sought after ­commodity for the digital age.