Syrah Resources Ltd. achieved first production of unpurified spherical graphite at its Battery Anode Material facility in Louisiana, using natural graphite from the Balama project in Mozambique.

The company said Dec. 31 it installed 5,000-tonnes-per-annum of milling equipment and is adding purification equipment for batch processing of purified spherical graphite in the first quarter of 2019. Company shares closed up 4.15% on the ASX the day of the announcement.

Previously in December, Syrah signed a binding agreement with Shandong, China-based Qingdao Langruite Graphite Co. Ltd. to sell at least 48,000 tonnes of natural graphite from the Balama project in 2019.