Battery-maker LG Energy Solution signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Syrah Resources Limited on partnering to evaluate natural graphite anode material.

Under the terms of the MoU, LGES and Syrah will test and verify the natural graphite from Syrah’s Vidalia production facility in Vidalia, Louisiana, which is scheduled to start production in 2023. Through the testing and verification procedures, the companies will ensure that the products satisfy LGES’s technical requirements for natural graphite, and commit efforts to determine the final product specifications by the end of 2023.

Syrah is being awarded $220 million by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to support the expansion of its Graphite Active Anode Material Facility in Vidalia. (Earlier post.)

Based on the results of the evaluation, LGES and Syrah will also use commercially reasonable efforts to sign a binding offtake agreement by the end of 2022. The annual procurement targets for natural graphite will begin at 2,000 metric tons in 2025 and continuously increase in the upcoming years.

The non-binding MoU with Syrah marks the sixth partnership agreement LGES has signed under its mission to secure key raw materials for EV battery production in North America. Prior to this MoU, LGES has signed non-binding MoUs with Compass Minerals on lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, and with Avalon Advanced Materials and Snow Lake Resources on lithium hydroxide. LGES has also signed binding term sheets with Sigma Lithium (battery-grade lithium) and Electra Battery Materials Corporation (cobalt sulfate).