Graphite produced in Mozambique, which feeds the world’s electric vehicle battery industry, fell by 55% in the first nine months of this year, during which only 34,800 tonnes of the ore were produced.
According to official figures, this is a ‘worrying’ reduction compared to the same period last year, when production reached 77,700 tonnes.
The document on budget execution made it known that the figures reflect only 11% of the target set for the whole of 2024, in which the government expected to produce a total of 329,000 tonnes.
‘This poor performance is the result of the paralysis of GK Ancuabe Graphite Mine’s activities since 2023, as well as the interruption of work by Twigg Mining and Exploration – a local subsidiary of the Australian mining company Syrah – due to the introduction of synthetic graphite on the international market, in addition to labour problems in the company that culminated in the paralysis of mining operations,’ the report said.
In 2023, Mozambique expected to produce 97,300 tonnes of graphite, compared to 165,900 tonnes in 2022 and 77,100 tonnes in 2021.
At the beginning of November, the Australian mining company Syrah Resources, which operates in the Balama district, in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, announced that in the first half of this year it had recorded losses estimated at 67.1 million Australian dollars (44.7 million US dollars).
Information published by Engineering News revealed that revenues fell 33 per cent to 19 million Australian dollars (12.6 million US dollars), adding that the situation was due to a reduction in graphite production and sales due to oversupply in China.
‘Graphite is a carbon-based material used in batteries and is a vital component in electric vehicles. China accounts for more than 70 per cent of the global supply of natural, mined graphite and the synthetic variety, made from petroleum coke or coal tar,’ the company explained.
In the published note, it is stressed that China’s graphite production increased to around 1.2 million metric tonnes in 2023, compared to 700,000 tonnes in 2020, clarifying that the Asian country was, until recently, a major market for graphite exporters like Syrah.
The mining company revealed that, in the first half of the year, production at its Balama operations fell 38% to 34,900 tonnes, with sales dropping from 44,700 to 29,800 tonnes.
Faced with this scenario, the company explained that, during the period in question, it did not sell graphite to China, but sent the ore to third-party customers, mainly to Indonesia.
‘Syrah sent 500 tonnes of graphite to its Active Anode Material (AAM) unit in Vidalia, in the United States, which began production in February,’ it concluded.
