Australia’s Syrah Resources has declared a force majeure event at its Balama graphite mine amid post-election civil unrest in Mozambique.

Contested election results, announced following the October general election, have caused widespread disruptions throughout Mozambique, including at several mining operations.

Circumstances surrounding the general election and the ongoing protests are significantly impacting national government operations, and hindering the ability of district and provincial government authorities to resolve illegal protest actions at Balama.

The protest actions at Balama, originally linked to a small group of farmers with historical farmland resettlement grievances, started in late September, impeding Syrah’s ability to conduct operations at the Balama site. Prior to the Mozambique general election on October 9, and since the election outcomes were announced, protest actions have continued, with segments of the local population not directly involved in Balama’s resettlement process conflating unrelated issues and objectives.

“The movement of people and supplies, site access and plant operations have continued to be interrupted,” Syrah said in a statement on Thursday.

The company has demobilised most of the operational personnel from the site and a full contract security presence remains onsite.

With conditions continuing to deteriorate across Mozambique and further national government opposition protest actions recently announced, Syrah is unable to undertake a production campaign at the 350 000 t/y Balama operation in the December 2024 quarter that is required to replenish finished product inventory, and for customer sales.

The company said that the resolution of the Balama protest would take time due to broader unrest and disruptions across Mozambique and the new Mozambique government not being formed until January 2025.

The impacts and duration of the protest actions have triggered events of default in Syrah’s loans with US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and US Department of Energy (DoE).

Syrah is engaging with DFC and DoE regarding these events of default.

The company’s stock fell by about 30% on Thursday.