Australia’s Syrah Resources announced on Monday that it has agreed with Tesla to extend the deadline to address an alleged default of their graphite supply agreement for the second time in two months. The miner is working to maintain the viability of its U.S. operations.
Tesla, led by Elon Musk, issued a default notice in July after Syrah allegedly failed to deliver conforming active anode material samples from its Louisiana processing facility for Tesla’s electric vehicle batteries. Syrah stated the original September 16 deadline, which was first extended to November 15, has now been further pushed to January 16, 2026. The company clarified that while it does not accept it is in default under the offtake agreement, both parties have extended the cure date. The 2021 contract between Syrah and Tesla aims to supply 8,000 metric tons of graphite anode materials over four years from Syrah’s Vidalia plant in Louisiana, USA. This facility is the only vertically integrated, large-scale anode material producer outside China, helping reduce U.S. dependence on dominant Chinese supplies. Syrah noted that under the agreement, Tesla could terminate the offtake agreement if final qualification of the plant’s active anode material is not achieved by February 9, 2026. Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. In a separate announcement, Syrah disclosed that a subsidiary received $8.5 million under its $150 million United States International Development Finance Corporation loan. This funding supports its Balama graphite operations in Mozambique, which faced operational disruptions last year due to nationwide protests.