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ability to restrict supply is now fully visible.” Q&A with Syrah’s Shaun Verner","chinas-ability-to-restrict-supply-is-now-fully-visible-qa-with-syrahs-shaun-verner","article/chinas-ability-to-restrict-supply-is-now-fully-visible-qa-with-syrahs-shaun-verner",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":566,"content":576,"excerpt":774,"featured":51,"reporter":775,"_editable":779,"component":780,"seo_title":553,"categories":781,"visibility":787,"author_company":49,"featured_image":788,"seo_description":774,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":792,"formattedArticleDate":793},"146bd2fc-2d65-4311-9fbc-94c4e3a21784","2023-11-13 00:00",[560,563],{"slug":561,"name":562},"export-restrictions","Export restrictions",{"slug":564,"name":565},"qa","Q&A",[567],{"slug":568,"name":569,"content":570},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":571,"image":572,"bio":574,"linkedin":575},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":573},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":577,"content":578},"doc",[579,596,601,606,619,624,629,651,656,661,666,671,676,681,686,691,698,703,708,713,718,727,732,737,742,747,752,757,762,767],{"type":580,"attrs":581,"content":582},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[583,586,594],{"text":584,"type":585},"Syrah Resources is the largest producer of graphite outside of ","text",{"text":587,"type":585,"marks":588},"China",[589],{"type":590,"attrs":591},"link",{"href":592,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":593},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/what-chinas-graphite-export-restrictions-mean-for-prices","url",{"text":595,"type":585},", in terms of total capacity. ",{"type":580,"attrs":597,"content":598},{"textAlign":49},[599],{"text":600,"type":585},"The Australian company produces flake graphite concentrate from its Balama mine and processing facility in northern Mozambique.  ",{"type":580,"attrs":602,"content":603},{"textAlign":49},[604],{"text":605,"type":585},"The company is also building a plant to produce natural graphite anode materials in Vidalia, Louisiana, which is set to begin operations this year. Its initial capacity will be 11,250 tonnes of active anode materials a year, with plans to expand this to 45,000 tonnes a year. It estimates the plant could meet 10% of US demand. ",{"type":580,"attrs":607,"content":608},{"textAlign":49},[609,611,617],{"text":610,"type":585},"Syrah has won support from the US government for the project. In July 2022, the Department of Energy issued a $102.1 million ",{"text":612,"type":585,"marks":613},"loan",[614],{"type":590,"attrs":615},{"href":616,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":593},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/us-doe-awards-first-battery-supply-chain-loan-to-syrah-anode-project",{"text":618,"type":585}," to Syrah for the expansion of Vidalia. It was the first loan from the DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program since 2011.",{"type":580,"attrs":620,"content":621},{"textAlign":49},[622],{"text":623,"type":585},"The company has also recently received conditional approval from the US International Development Finance Corporation for a $150 million loan commitment for expansion at Balama. ",{"type":580,"attrs":625,"content":626},{"textAlign":49},[627],{"text":628,"type":585},"Benchmark Source sat down with the company’s chief executive Shaun Verner to learn more. Verner previously worked at mining company BHP for 20 years. ",{"type":630,"attrs":631,"content":633},"heading",{"level":632,"textAlign":49},4,[634,636,642,644,649],{"text":635,"type":585},"China recently ",{"text":637,"type":585,"marks":638},"announced",[639],{"type":590,"attrs":640},{"href":641,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":593},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/china-graphite-export-restrictions-could-hinder-ex-china-anode-development",{"text":643,"type":585}," that permits would now be needed for the export of some graphite products. You’ve said that you expect there to be ",{"text":645,"type":585,"marks":646},"some buying activity",[647],{"type":590,"attrs":648},{"href":592,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":593},{"text":650,"type":585}," ahead of the December deadline, are you seeing that?",{"type":580,"attrs":652,"content":653},{"textAlign":49},[654],{"text":655,"type":585},"I think that there’s certainly a number of ex-China buyers who are doing a lot of work around ensuring supply continuity. And we’re hearing some discussions on processes around some degree of stockpiling, pre-ordering, changing contracting processes, etc… The other thing that’s apparent, clearly, is that Chinese exporters – and I’m talking specifically here, natural graphite at this point – are seeking to export as much as they can prior to December 1.",{"type":580,"attrs":657,"content":658},{"textAlign":49},[659],{"text":660,"type":585},"I think if you start to look downstream a little bit into purified spherical and some of the anode material, the Chinese natural graphite buyers, those processors of those two materials, are kind of in this strange position where they’re consuming a lot of current stock to export. But they’re a little concerned about purchasing much more until they know whether they’re going to be able to export as freely after December 1. ",{"type":580,"attrs":662,"content":663},{"textAlign":49},[664],{"text":665,"type":585},"And we’ve got the winter production period coming up as well. So this is a challenging period for people to navigate. But certainly on the ex-China side of things across natural graphite, and purified spherical, we’re hearing about more purchasing. ",{"type":580,"attrs":667,"content":668},{"textAlign":49},[669],{"text":670,"type":585},"I think the big unknown here is how these controls will be implemented. And it’s a pretty interesting period, because there’s a lot of people expressing opinions about it, but the reality is that nobody really knows. And, of course, Chinese exporters are expressing confidence that it will be largely administrative and there won’t be an interruption. And customers are doing their best to remain confident that there won’t be an interruption in supply or the supply won’t be impacted. ",{"type":580,"attrs":672,"content":673},{"textAlign":49},[674],{"text":675,"type":585},"But as I said, the reality today is that nobody really knows whether the process will be implemented in the way that they anticipate, nor really whether the Chinese authorities will use the process to manage export volumes – to choose particular suppliers to manage capacity utilisation. Because there’s no doubt there’s an issue on that front in artificial graphite. ",{"type":630,"attrs":677,"content":678},{"level":632,"textAlign":49},[679],{"text":680,"type":585},"How much do you think this is China using its dominance in anodes and graphites to send a message or to hit back at the US?",{"type":580,"attrs":682,"content":683},{"textAlign":49},[684],{"text":685,"type":585},"It’s really hard to say. I think that the important point here is that whether or not restrictions or controls are implemented or whether the licensing process is administrative or not, doesn’t really matter. ",{"type":580,"attrs":687,"content":688},{"textAlign":49},[689],{"text":690,"type":585},"What is evident now is the potential impact of China’s ability to restrict supply is now fully visible. And, of course, it was visible before, but now there’s a mechanism in place by which it can be managed very quickly. For the ex-China supply chain that is developing from a battery perspective, from an anode material perspective, that’s a very challenging position to be in. ",{"type":580,"attrs":692,"content":693},{"textAlign":49},[694,696],{"text":695,"type":585},"Alternative sourcing and risk diversification become more and more important. I can’t really comment on what the motivations are. But what we can say without any sort of shadow of a doubt is that if supplies are limited either in natural graphite or in purified spherical graphite or anode material, it will have a significant impact on the export markets. Because there is not a significant amount of alternative supply in any of those product segments",{"text":697,"type":585},".",{"type":580,"attrs":699,"content":700},{"textAlign":49},[701],{"text":702,"type":585},"People focus on natural graphite exports from China as natural graphite only. And even even giving China a really good yield into purified spherical [graphite] – let’s say it’s a 50% yield, though it’s probably lower than that. If you look at natural graphite exports, purified spherical exports, and natural graphite anode material exports, on average for the last year China exported the equivalent of about 400,000 tonnes of natural graphite units. ",{"type":580,"attrs":704,"content":705},{"textAlign":49},[706],{"text":707,"type":585},"It’s a much more significant natural graphite exporter than the natural graphite flake and fines exports would indicate, because of that purified spherical and anode material. So I think that that increases the importance of understanding that any restriction or process control that impedes exports is going to have a significant impact on these export markets.",{"type":630,"attrs":709,"content":710},{"level":632,"textAlign":49},[711],{"text":712,"type":585},"There’s been huge investment in production of synthetic graphite in China. Do you think China is flooding the market with that material, just as the West is trying to build its own supply chains, or is it just a feature of the Chinese system that they build overcapacity?",{"type":580,"attrs":714,"content":715},{"textAlign":49},[716],{"text":717,"type":585},"I think it’s very much the latter. There’s been a lot of new capacity, some projects which started two or three years ago, some which started more recently. And a lot of that capacity has come to market at the same time over the last year or so. And the competition within that market domestically in China is absolutely brutal at the moment and to some extent, the only market share mechanism available to new entrants is price. And that’s why we refer to what we see as pretty significant margin pressure. Particularly for new entrants, who are trying to find a place in that market. ",{"type":580,"attrs":719,"content":720},{"textAlign":49},[721],{"type":722,"attrs":723},"image",{"id":49,"alt":724,"src":725,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":726},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/14a8d1be94/bm-anode-price-08nov.png",{},{"type":630,"attrs":728,"content":729},{"level":632,"textAlign":49},[730],{"text":731,"type":585},"Your Vidalia anode plant in the US is due to start this quarter. How long will it take to ramp up and start supplying battery producers?",{"type":580,"attrs":733,"content":734},{"textAlign":49},[735],{"text":736,"type":585},"So we have talked about a fairly conservative, well, very conservative ramp-up profile – 18 months to full capacity. But on the flip side of that, we are seeking to get to 80% capacity as soon as we can. And certainly we think by the middle of next year, we should be at that level. ",{"type":630,"attrs":738,"content":739},{"level":632,"textAlign":49},[740],{"text":741,"type":585},"How important was the DOE loan in terms of the project? ",{"type":580,"attrs":743,"content":744},{"textAlign":49},[745],{"text":746,"type":585},"It’s an important element of the funding stack for the project. We had strong equity market support for the project, we actually undertook an equity raise to fully fund the project and then the DOE loan was formalised after that. And it’s been a learning process for us. But also a learning process for the DOE moving into the manufacturing supply chain for input materials. I think we’ve shown that it could be the first of an ongoing series of funding processes for expansions. And secondly, it really does help from a credibility perspective, because of the due diligence they do. That allows other funding sources to have a greater degree of confidence around some of these projects. ",{"type":630,"attrs":748,"content":749},{"level":632,"textAlign":49},[750],{"text":751,"type":585},"You shut down the Balama mine earlier this year due to falling graphite prices. But you resumed production for 32 days in the third quarter, as part of what you call a “production campaign.” Will you resume full production at the mine now given China’s export controls?",{"type":580,"attrs":753,"content":754},{"textAlign":49},[755],{"text":756,"type":585},"Given the continuing volatility in the natural graphite market through the last 12 months or so, we kept finding that we were having production interruptions because of lack of inventory capacity, i.e. warehousing space. So we ended up sort of flipping the production process on its head and producing at maximum output, or a significant output level until we fully filled all the inventory space … and then stopping and conserving cost until that inventory had been drawn down enough to justify another production campaign. ",{"type":580,"attrs":758,"content":759},{"textAlign":49},[760],{"text":761,"type":585},"As demand increases the production response campaign will be there, i.e. the campaigns will become more frequent, until the point at which we’re back to continuous operation. So it’s really been a process of maximising efficiency when we are producing and minimising costs when we’re not producing and letting demand really pull through those production periods.",{"type":580,"attrs":763,"content":764},{"textAlign":49},[765],{"text":766,"type":585},"We’ve always had spare capacity … And the market is finally growing to a point where we see that Balama’s capacity and the utilisation of that capacity is absolutely key for the future market balance.",{"type":580,"attrs":768,"content":769},{"textAlign":49},[770],{"type":722,"attrs":771},{"id":49,"alt":724,"src":772,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":773},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/f513285287/bm-graphite-price-chart-1.png",{},"Syrah Resources is the largest producer of graphite outside of China, in terms of total capacity. The Australian company produces flake graphite concentrate from its Balama mine and processing facility in northern Mozambique. The company is also building a plant to produce natural graphite anode materials in Vidalia, Louisiana, which is set to begin […]",[776],{"slug":568,"name":569,"content":777},{"job_title":571,"image":778,"bio":574,"linkedin":575},{"filename":573},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"146bd2fc-2d65-4311-9fbc-94c4e3a21784\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[782,784],{"slug":783,"name":263},"anode",{"slug":785,"name":786},"graphite","Graphite","private",{"id":49,"alt":724,"name":724,"focus":724,"title":724,"source":724,"filename":789,"copyright":724,"fieldtype":790,"meta_data":791,"is_external_url":51},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/48cab5e2a5/bm-syraresources-29112018-shaun-verner-a.jpg","asset",{"alt":724,"title":724,"source":724,"copyright":724},"Nov 13, 2023","13th November 2023",[],[],1792773908265]