“Security in Cabo Delgado province has generally improved” – Syrah Resources

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“Security in Cabo Delgado province has generally improved” – Syrah Resources

8:46 CAT | 02 May 2023

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Syrah Resources]

“The security environment in Cabo Delgado province has generally improved since 2022,” declares an announcement to the markets about the activities at Syrah Resources’ Balama mine in the first quarter of this year.

Syrah was one of the first mining companies to be affected by the armed conflict in Cabo Delgado when, in June 2022, attacks temporarily suspended the transport of graphite from its mine. In November last year, the mine site had to be evacuated, also because of encroaching violence.

The scenario has improved this year, with Syrah producing 41,000 tonnes of graphite, up from 35,000 tonnes in the previous quarter, and the company reporting 30,000 tonnes of natural graphite sold and shipped, up from 28,000 tonnes.

Taking into consideration “prevailing volatility in the China anode market” and “the availability of significant finished product inventory”, Syrah announced that it would “moderate production from Balama until demand conditions and sales orders at economic prices warrant higher capacity utilization”.

“Syrah will also review and evaluate the potential for more dynamic Balama operating scenarios at lower capacity utilization, to match periods of volatile customer demand and lower sales ordering,” the company adds in the document.

The Australian firm is also building its own graphite anode plant in Louisiana, United States, to process graphite mined from Mozambique into battery electrodes.

READ: Mozambique: Syrah to lower graphite production from Balama mine on weak demand

Cabo Delgado province has been facing an armed insurgency for five years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

The insurgency has led to a military response since July, 2021, with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts next to gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged in the south of the region and in the neighbouring province of Nampula.

The conflict has already displaced one million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and cost around 4,000 lives, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Source: Lusa