Syrah Resources says workers will return to Balama graphite mine after weekend evacuation

The mining group was forced to evacuate its Balama graphite mine in Mozambique after fears Islamist insurgents were moving into the region.

Syrah Resources is returning staff to its Balama graphite mine in Mozambique after a security scare related to an Islamist insurgency in the country’s north forced the evacuation of its workers over the weekend.

The company says its workers would return to the mine on Monday after its security contractor advised the company it was safe to do so.

Although Syrah has faced running issues with strike action at Balama over the last two months, the latest disruption at the mine is believed to be related to the five-year Islamist insurgency in the country’s north.

The evacuation is believed to have been sparked by warnings from security forces that insurgents behind a number of attacks on villages and mining operations in the neighbouring Namuno were moving towards the Balama region.

“Through close engagement with government, security authorities and other stakeholders monitoring the situation, Syrah has assessed that the safe return of the workforce to site and resumption of operations at Balama will be undertaken from today,” the company said on Monday.

An alert issued by African private security firm Focus Group on November 10 warned that insurgents had been spotted on the border of the two regions, and could be moving into the Balama district.

The warning came amid an intensification of attacks in the area over the last two months. On October 20 insurgents linked to Islamic State attacked a ruby mine owned by Gemrock, forcing its closure.

The Gemrock mine sits within the coastal Ancuabe district of Mozambique, not far from the graphite project owned by ASX-listed Triton Minerals where two local workers were killed in an attack by insurgents in June.

Triton’s project is more than 200km away from that of Syrah, but the incident still forced the graphite producer to suspend transport operations along the main highway linking its mine and the coast.

Since then the insurgency has spread, with local media reports indicating multiple villages within the Namuno district have been attacked within recent weeks, displacing thousands.

Resource-rich Mozambique was once considered a comparatively stable mining destination, but has been struggling with an insurgency since 2017, with more than 4000 people killed and more than a million forced from their homes.

The unrest originally centred around a $US20bn ($29bn) gas project led by French energy giant TotalEnergies, but has since spread.

Syrah was also forced to close Balama on multiple occasions in September and October due to industrial action by some of its local workers.

Its shares were down 2c to $2.61 on the ASX on Monday afternoon.