Fosters Stock Brokers. Indonesian Anode plant opens

Anode plant of scale to serve US. China's BTR New Material Group (BTR) - the world's leading anode producer - yesterday officially opened its 80ktpa anode facility in Indonesia, its first foray outside of China-based production. The facility enables the plant to supply anode to the US market while still being compliant with IRA guidelines regarding foreign entity of concern (FEOC) over critical minerals.Will require 64ktpa natural graphite from Africa. BTR's plant is targeting approximately 32ktpa natural anode/48ktpa synthetic anode, implying a requirement of of 64ktpa natural graphite concentrate. BTR stated that natural graphite feed will be from Africa – the only ex-China region producing it at scale.All points positively for Syrah Resources Limited (ASX:SYR). We expect SYR to be a natural supplier for at least a major portion of BTR's feed, and potentially all. Balama is the largest African natural graphite producer, and earlier this year sold 10kt to BTR as the latter built inventory. We estimate that 64ktpa would represent 18% of Balama's production capacity. Doubling capacity by end year. BTR stated it will double the Indonesian plant to 160ktpa by end of 2024, sooner than previous expectations of 2025. While a surprise in light of gloomy EV markets, we believe it is driven by US IRA guidelines where EV OEMs must demonstrate progress on securing non-FEOC graphite anode to retain eligibility for EV credits. Again, all this bodes well for...Access the Full Report