In essence, BTR is looking secure any flake supply as they did...

In essence, BTR is looking secure any flake supply as they did with Syrah, and now BTR does not use. Price is why BTR chose SYR as they could purchase flake concentrate a prices lower than they could produce themselves from their mining division.

Any new graphite company that uses BTR as a stepping stone to success will found out very soon that BTR is looking to secure new supply of flake concentrate a US$400 to US$450 MT FOB Plant and BTR will use their IP to produce anode graphite product. The flake graphite supplier will NEVER know what battery format or chemistry their flake was processed to be use in nor will they reap any financial benefits beyond shipment of basic -195 grade concentrate. Keeping in mind that any new flake graphite processed into Coated SPG MUST meet stringent qualifications and may NOT qualify at all due to some metallurgical or chemical marker that precludes the new SPG product from meeting battery performance metrics.

Any new start that claims battery grade potential as their main sales focus will find their survival at sub US$ 500 MT FOB Plant short lived as was seen with SYR. If the new start was able to produce a turn key SPG product from mining, SPG processing, coating, and PSD per the battery manufacturers specifications would then enjoy the finished product prices depending on the grade from ~US$8,500 MT to more than ~US$ 17,000 MT.

This is why it boggles the mind the amount of money (hundreds of thousands of $$$) new graphite starts spend on lab evaluations, SPG processing, and LAB BASED statements that their flake graphite is suitable for LiB, which may be true in a general sense, yet only a small percentage of flake graphite SPG qualifies in a secondary battery. No battery manufacturer will adapt a third party's lab endorsement or SPG process as any battery manufacturer has invested millions in their own / proven battery IP making any lab endorsement a very expensive effort that makes a third party lab financially fulfilled, yet that is about as far as it goes from there.