Mozambique : Syrah and Marubeni reached off-take on Balama spherical graphite

Syrah Resources Ltd, a fast track progress on the Balama graphite project in Mozambique, reached offtake agreement on spherical graphite with Marubeni Corporation, a major Japanese integrated trading and investment conglomerate.

On June 9, the Australian resource company made public the effective signing of the five year agreement and underscored that Marubeni will have the exclusive right to import and sell Balama coated and uncoated spherical graphite in the Japanese and Korean territories.

The agreement concerns the purchase of a total of 50,000 tonnes of product per annum and the marketing of the product to its customers which consists of the largest battery and anode producers in the said territories.

Also, the Japanese integrated conglomerate will have the exclusive right to sell product to a subsidiary of Japanese or Korean headquartered corporation, excluding certain specifically agreed customers, located outside of the territory.

“In recent years, due to the growing demand in energy storage resulting from an increase in eco-friendly cars and large mobile equipment, the lithium ion battery and related raw materials market has rapidly expanded and the need for a new natural graphite supply source has emerged”, the Japanese conglomerate on June 10 explained.

It recalled that spherical natural graphite is the main raw material used in lithium ion batteries.

Marubeni’s obligation to purchase commences after the Australian company‘s notice which is expected to be issued by 31 December 2019.
“This agreement with Marubeni represents the largest spherical graphite off-take agreement that has been signed globally to date,” Syrah Managing Director, Mr. Tolga Kumova commented.

Balama project hosts the largest graphite ore reserves in the world, about 81.4Mt Jorc ore reserve at 16.2% total graphitic carbon (TGC) for 13.1Mt of contained graphite.

The project covers 110km2 granted Mining Concession within the Cabo Delgado province, Balama district in northern Mozambique.