Tulip, I'd suggest that some caution is in order, in trying to...

Tulip, I'd suggest that some caution is in order, in trying to assess whether the people you are listening to are part of "The Industry", or actually are from a specific company, possibly with a small resource, and maybe significant overburden. In that event, they will want to focus on anything which will draw attention away from the real operators.

Most of the assumptions you have stated are open to serious question. Let's look at a few, and you will see what I mean.

Take the first: "the one major thing is purity". If that were true, most of the Chinese graphite mines would be out of business - and they currently produce 70% of the world's graphite. There are many markets for graphite, with widely varying requirements for flake size, constancy of supply, volume of production, price - and purity. If someone tries to tell you that only one factor matters,look very hard before taking his advice.

Next, "If uranium was not an issue, ... they would already have offtake partners". Sorry, does not follow at all. Why should they announce offtake arrangements at this early stage? There is little doubt that Balama will be the world's low-cost producer, and the metallurgical testing results already announced show that graphite can be produced with high grade, and with a range of flake sizes to cover most applications. The same testing has also shown that levels of sulphur (a problem for steelmakers) are exceptionally low.

The uranium claim appears to be being made by people with a record of declared ownership (past or present) of shares in competing companies. Does anybody see a hidden agenda here?

"graphite, given the type of niche market it is" Well, is it a "niche market"? It's currently about a million tonnes per year, and, if SYR achieve their stated goal of entering the petroleum coke, and graphite anode markets, you can multiply that by a number somewhere between five and ten.

I think you may have been getting some misinformation. Could I suggest that, if you are serious about looking at graphite companies as an investment, that you look at the announcements from SYR, over the last year? The topics touched on above are covered much more comprehensively, and that knowledge could provide a much better basis for your graphite industry investment decisions.

I wish you luck, and success, whichever way you choose to go.

Cheers, Prime1