still good and more time, page-45

My understanding, from an article in the AFR interviewing Tolga Kumova, was SYR were looking at Balama for its uranium potential when they stumbled on the graphite whilst doing their DD. Didn't sound to me like they were out specifically looking for graphite projects, but you may have a better understanding.


Extract from AFR article

How Kumova built his wealth is an interesting story. He listed Syrah, a shell company with 25 exploration licences in Saudi Arabia, on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2007. The licences went nowhere and were later sold. He was also involved in a possible gold project in Burkina Faso, but that opportunity came to a dead end. He knew Paul Kehoe, a geologist and accountant who had been looking at a number of uranium leases that a British-listed company, African Eagle Resources, owned in Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique. African Eagle agreed to sell these uranium licences to Kehoe, Kumova and a group of other investors for $1 million in 2011, along with licences for some other minerals including graphite and mineral sands.

Kumova says the plan was to list the uranium assets on the ASX through a company called Jacana, but this was derailed by Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster in early 2011, which sent uranium stocks into a tailspin. Instead, the African uranium licences were vended into Syrah in late 2011 and, in return, Kehoe, Kumova and other investors took stock in Syrah.

Kehoe would become Syrah's managing director and its largest shareholder while Kumova would be the second-largest shareholder. Since December 16, 2011, Kumova has held 14.5 million shares in Syrah Resources via his family companies, Evtol Investments and Kitara Investments. Almost half the company is held by four shareholders.

http://www.afr.com/p/business/companies/rapid_fortune_built_on_graphite_TNXCBOceFdGpnXiHfBWT1K