Syrah Resources has made a bulk shipment of 10kt graphite fines to BTR’s Indonesian facility.

The graphite concentrate was supplied by Syrah’s Blama mine in Mozambique and sold to BTR’s newly built battery anode production facility located at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi Province. The project is currently being developed under a joint venture between BTR New Materials (70%) and Stellar Investment (30%), a subsidiary of Tsingshan. Construction activities started in April 2023 and the plant has a production capacity of 80ktpy synthetic graphite active anode material (AAM). BTR expects to start commercial production in H2 2024.

In 2017, Syrah entered a supply agreement with BTR for 30ktpy natural graphite concentrate, however, some material might now be going to Indonesia for processing instead of China and used as part of the company’s anode blend. Once operational this will be BTR’s first graphite anode facility outside of China making it strategically important for the company’s material to enter alternative supply chains.

Over the past years, the majority of Syrah’s material has been exported to Chinese AAM producers as battery-grade graphite feedstock and the Balama mine has been operating below its nameplate capacity of 350ktpy. At Project Blue, we expect Syrah to increase its production output and establish new supply routes, including graphite markets in North America and Europe. In Q1 2024, the company commenced production at its 11.25ktpy natural graphite AAM Vidalia facility in Louisiana, USA becoming the first vertically integrated Western graphite operation. Furthermore, the company is currently progressing with a US$350M loan from the US Department of Energy to fund its Vidalia further expansion project (45ktpy AAM) and plans on developing a downstream AAM facility in Europe.