No offence Crimson but I know a lot of people value his opinion very highly as being a commodity trader for over ten years. That is why I brought it up. His opinion is highly regarded and shouldn't be discounted, that doesn't mean he isn't wrong, but if I wouldn't bet against him.
Obviously you have a different view and like you said it will be very interesting over the coming years, I share your view and am very interested to see how things play out. the benefits of natural flake in terms of costing are certainly there. However I can't see the market bringing online all the ASX graphite hopefuls. The demand just isn't there yet, especially with China still producing large amounts of flake.
From my research the Heilongjiang and Shandong provinces in China are currently the biggest producers globally of of flake graphite. Heilongjiang producing some 250ktpa of flake graphite, half of the current global consumption from figures posted on various sites.
Behind China my research has pointed to India as being the second largest producer of flake graphite and then Brazil (Brazil does not produce Flake from my understanding). Brazil is extremely hard to find information on to be honest as the companies are privately owned, and you can't trust the figures coming out of there to be honest.
As for Syrah have you read of the south32 takeover rumours? Apparently with an unnamed Chinese interest hoping to take advantage of the fall in share price. This is a perfect example of point 5 from your post showing that the Chinese are trying to control the supply chain.
Fair enough about your employment with them, hopefully something comes up again in the future. Like you said the knowledge and ability to learn from that team is something that is unparalleled.
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