Hi, thanks for your comment, some points to consider :
1- 20% large flakes is a theoritical bench scale figure. What percentage in real life large scale operation ? we will know soon. Remember that to increase the purity you need to mill the graphite and you detsroy flake size in the process.
2- Correct me if I am wrong but I think Syrah doesent report any 35mesh+ graphite for its flake distribution. In other words, Syrah wont be present in this super jumbo flakes market, and those able to enter it will face little to no competition worldwide (depletion of resources and closure of chinese mines and no new entrants on the horizon) and most importantly ZERO compeition from Syrah.
3- I am still skepctical about Syrah real costs per tonne. It seems they are relying on economies of scale to kick in. Because in terms of transportation costs it is a catastroph : they have to move the graphite using semi trucks for 490km (in not the best roads in the world, it takes each semi 48 hours of transportation time) in order to arrive to the nearest deep sea port.
4- I am still skeptical of Syrah's ability to ramp up production of graphite. Successful Commissioning of large projects such as Balama mine may require years not months.
You will notice I didnt mention the ability of syrah to find customers and sell hundreds of thousands of tonnes of graphite at a profit. Good luck with that. But that is not even the strongest argument regarding the challenges Syrah will face. I still believe Syrahs project is "too big" for the the time being for the graphite market reality. I prefer "start slow and grow strategy". To each its own i guess ! Good luck to all !
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