Critical Minerals Factbook
Facility

Syrah Vidalia Active Anode Material Facility

Syrah's natural-graphite active anode material (AAM) plant on a 38-acre site at Vidalia, Concordia Parish, Louisiana — the first U.S. commercial spherical graphite operation. DOE's Loan Programs Office issued a $102.1 million direct loan to Syrah Technologies LLC in July 2022 under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, the first ATVM loan in more than a decade. The front-end milling area began producing unpurified spherical graphite in October 2023 and AAM production started in February 2024; USGS recorded an initial capacity of 11,300 t/year for the Vidalia plant, while Syrah states 11.25 ktpa. A definitive feasibility study for expansion to 45 ktpa is complete and awaiting FID. Syrah's published process order is milling, then purification, then surface treatment; the atlas's fixed natural-route material vocabulary orders purification before shaping, so the two intermediate flow claims below are recorded as inferred mappings rather than as Syrah's process sequence.

Facts on this page last re-verified Aug 12, 2026 — the oldest verification date among its current claims. How we verify.

Location: Vidalia, Louisiana, United States

Purification

Purification circuit

Operating

Purification of natural flake graphite concentrate from Syrah's Balama operation in Mozambique, one of the three value-add processing steps Syrah lists at Vidalia (milling, purification and surface treatment). Syrah's published process order mills before purifying; the atlas's natural-route vocabulary places purification before shaping, so the intermediate output token below is an atlas mapping rather than Syrah's stated sequence.

Material flow

Natural graphite concentrate → Purified flake graphite

Capacity

No capacity claim. Absence of a figure means no source publishes one.

Qualification

No qualification claim. Status does not imply qualified output.

Particle processing

Front-end milling and particle shaping

Operating

Front-end milling area shaping graphite into spherical particles, the first value-add step Syrah lists at Vidalia. Syrah records the start of unpurified spherical graphite production from this area in October 2023; the atlas's uncoated-spherical-graphite token denotes purified spherical material, so the output assignment is an inferred mapping of Syrah's shaping step onto the vocabulary.

Material flow

Purified flake graphite → Uncoated spherical graphite

Capacity

No capacity claim. Absence of a figure means no source publishes one.

Qualification

No qualification claim. Status does not imply qualified output.

Anode finishing

Surface treatment and AAM finishing

Operating

Surface treatment (coating) producing 18-micron coated purified spherical graphite active anode material, the final value-add step Syrah lists at Vidalia; AAM production from the 11.25 ktpa facility started in February 2024

Material flow

Uncoated spherical graphite → Coated spherical purified graphite (CSPG)

Capacity

11,250 t/year · Product mass · Nameplate · as of Aug 12, 2026

11,300 t/year · Product mass · Nameplate · as of Jan 31, 2025

Qualification

No qualification claim. Status does not imply qualified output.

Sources