Dec. 23, 2021 - Syrah Resources (SYR) has executed an offtake agreement with Tesla to supply natural graphite active anode material (AAM) from its planned production facility in Vidalia, Louisiana, USA.

The announcement was released to the market earlier today. By this afternoon the company asked the ASX to place it in a trading halt , which is said was necessary to assist in managing its continuous disclosure obligations.

Syrah is aiming for its AAM facility to be the first major integrated producer outside China of natural graphite active anode material for electric vehicles.

Natural graphite concentrate will be transported from the Balama graphite operation in Mozambique to Vidalia and then shaped into a sphere and purified to produce an active anode precursor material.

This precursor material is then coated and heat tread to produce an AAM.

Under the agreement, Tesla will offtake the majority of the proposed expansion of the AAM production capacity at Vidalia for an initial term of four years for a fixed price.

Subject to Syrah expanding its capacity beyond 10,000 tonnes per annum, Tesla has the option to offtake additional volume.

This agreement provides a foundation to proceed with the initial expansion of Vidalia’s production facility and Syrah plans to make a final investment decision for construction of this expansion in January 2022.

Syrah is also advancing commercial and technical engagement with other customers to develop Vidalia AAM for mass production.