Thanks, Redgum, for a bit of reality. We seem to be in a "post-truth" environment on this thread.
On top of the cement shortage, the civil war, and the lack of funds, we see that Bass Metals is quoted as a rival producer, and that its quality problems will equally beset Syrah at Balama. Wilhelm Reitz is well-meaning, and, I am sure, a competent manager. But it simply defies belief that the two are comparable. Bass, as referenced by Cazz69, has a small, low-grade deposit in Madagascar, at which production is currently "temporarily suspended" pending "process improvements". When in production, output in an entire year is less than Balama will ship in a week - and at a significantly lower grade than the Syrah run-of-mine product. The implication that the two mines are in some way equivalent, and therefore comparable, merely draws another red herring across the Balama development track.
As Redgum has reminded us, Balama production starts in about four months. No other significant, low-cost graphite mine appears possible in less than two years, and even that time-scale is dependent on hypothetical offtakes and finance, both of which keep vanishing like mirages as time goes on, and nothing materializes for the wannabees. The lead is growing, month by month. Poster Graphite is right to warn that the industry is not all beer-and-skittles, but it is only fair to point out that the situation is much more difficult for small, high-cost producers, and especially for those with no mine, no finance and no customers.
Syrah's impending volume production, at the world's lowest cost, is likely to make any banker think twice before tipping a bucket of the bank's money into a project facing such a come-from-behind challenge.
(20min delay)