Analysts have predicted a tripling in the price of graphite, which could revolutionise computers, smart phones and aviation.

The valuable material, which is a single layer of graphite, could drive new mining exploration in Western Australia and across the globe, the ABC reported.

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The fact that it is flexible, 200 times stronger than steel, just as transparent as glass and can conduct electricity more efficiently than copper makes it “a promising material for many applications, most of which have not been realised yet,” said University of Western Australia computational chemist Assistant Professor Amir Karton.

“It can be used to make flexible electronics, flexible batteries, touch screens, transparent conductive films, solar cells, fuel cells and the list goes on and on,” he told the ABC.

Three-dimensional printing is just one of these possibilities, he said.

Demand for graphite has greatly increased since being discovered a decade ago, driven by the industrialisation of China and India, the ABC reported.

Lamboo Resources executive director Tony Cormack, whose company is reportedly exploring for graphite in the East Kimberly, told the ABC he expected demand to “really, really expand” in the next five years.

“The graphite market has grown from the desire for successful battery storage and essentially it has only got traction over the last few years.”

Perth-based Kibaran Resources is also reportedly mining graphite in Tanzania.

“Graphene is a phenomenal discovery,” Kibaran managing director Andrew Spinks told the ABC.

“[T]he commercialisation of graphene as a product will revolutionise significant aspects of way things are produced in the future.”