The Syrah (ASX: SYR) share price is up 14% in early trading after making an announcement.
Syrah is a resources business that owns and developed the Balama Graphite Project in Mozambique. In 2018, Syrah produced over 100,000 tonnes of natural graphite in 2018 and is the largest and first major new operation outside of China. Syrah is also progressing its ‘downstream’ Battery Anode Material strategy with first production of spherical graphite achieved in December 2018 from its plant in Louisiana, USA.
Syrah’s Announcement News
The company has announced that the first production of purified spherical graphite from its Battery Anode Material (BAM) plant in Vidalia, Louisiana in the USA using Syrah’s natural graphite from Balama.
Syrah said that this represents a significant milestone at its BAM project and it’s an achievement in the execution of its strategy of developing a vertically integrated natural graphite anode material production capability.
There is still more work to be done. Internal process optimisation, product testing and quality control assessment will continue in the coming weeks in preparation for qualification products to be dispatched to customers.
Syrah Managing Director and CEO Shaun Verner said: “With the completion of construction and commissioning activities for initial production of purified spherical graphite from Vidalia in the USA, we are demonstrating a pathway to produce value-added products of commercial scale, focused on establishing a core position in the battery supply chain.
“This is a significant step forward for Syrah in providing an alternative and complementary source of ex-China BAM supply, demonstrating our commitment to develop the first large-scale fully integrated natural graphite anode material production facility outside of China.”
The Syrah share price is still down more than 50% over the past six months with the trade war having a negative effect on demand and prices, which is why Syrah recently cut production to compensate.
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