Heavily shorted graphite miner Syrah Resources has hit speed bump in its plans to develop a beneficiation plant in Louisiana that would give it better access to lucrative battery markets.

Syrah had obtained a lease to build the beneficiation plant near Port Manchac on the outskirts of New Orleans, but the port's governing body (the South Tangipahoa Parish Port Commission) terminated that lease on Tuesday morning after local residents raised concerns about the facility's potential to affect air and water quality.