This is a very interesting and very very long article. Rick Mills the author from AOTH has a bee in his bonnet about the lack of mining approvals in the US among other things. He also had a very big rant at SYR near the bottom. The only company he had a rant at in his very very long article. A diplomatic person would say he construed the facts to push whatever his agenda is against SYR. No wonder he has quite a lengthy Legal Notice/Disclaimer at the bottom of the article. Apropos of nothing, I recall a US Congress woman from Alaska pushing Graphite One also had a rant against SYR in congress and Graphite One is also a featured sponsor of AOTH (Ahead Of The Heard)
Part of the Legal Notice/Disclaimer says quote "AOTH/Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable, but which has not been independently verified.
AOTH/Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness." unquote
This is what he had to say about SYR (just above it he had a crack at Vietnam and the DRC as well):
Quote "Mozambique was the world’s second-largest producer of graphite in 2022, accounting for 14% of production. Australia’s Syrah Resources opened its Balama mine there in 2018. Most of the country’s graphite is in Cabo Delgado, a northern province that has been wracked by political violence. According to S&P Global, militia attacks in the region forced mine shut-downs at Balama, with only 72,000 tonnes of production achieved in 2021, compared to 100,000t in 2018 and 153,000t in 2019" unquote.
(there are 2 points here. The first is he didn't compare 2021 with 2022 where SYR shipped 162,000t, the more recent and relevant of the years to compare it to. He knew SYR had shipped that amount because he previously stated Mozambique was the world’s second-largest producer of graphite in 2022, accounting for 14% of production, but deliberately failed to say >98% was shipped from Balama. Secondly, he would know the mine was shut for only a month which only affected 30,000t of its 350,000t capacity. The reason SYR only sold 72,000t in 2021 was shipping availability and not militant attacks.)
He goes on to say: Quote "Despite the instability, Mozambique was one of five African countries invited by the United States last year to the new Minerals Security Partnership. As mentioned, the MSP was formed to try and reduce China’s influence on US imports of critical minerals, including graphite, a component used in electric vehicle battery anodes.
In fact the US Department of Energy went further, providing Syrah Resources with a USD$107 million loan to build a graphite processing facility in Vidalia, Louisiana, and then later, a $220 million grant enabling it to expand the facility four-fold.
Again, look at the hypocrisy. Here’s the US government throwing its support behind everything clean and green, ESG and all that, yet it’s okay working with some of the worst nations in the world when it comes to human rights, poverty and the environment" unquote.
(Again, look at the hypocrisy???? Vidalia has nothing to do with the Mozambique Govt. It's a AAM manufacturing facility being built and operated by US workers. Sure, it gets its feedstock for Mozambique but like POSCO, Samsung etc, it can get its feedstock from any qualified mine if any were any available. In his very long article, he never said anything about China having one of the worst records when it comes to human rights, poverty and the environment. In fact he is all for Ford buying a licence off CATL (directly below his SYR rant), a Chinese company which is no different to Vidalia buying graphite from a company in Mozambique, which is 95% Aust owned. Oh the hypocrisy. By the way, CATL isn't a state owned company like he says).
(20min delay)