FILE PHOTO: Tesla logo is seen in this illustration taken July 23, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

(Reuters) -Australia's Syrah Resources said on Monday that it had agreed with Tesla to extend the deadline to tackle an alleged default of their graphite supply agreement for the second time in two months as the miner works to keep its U.S. operations buoyant.

The Elon Musk-led automaker issued a default notice in July after Syrah allegedly failed to deliver conforming active anode material samples from its Louisiana processing facility for Tesla's electric vehicle batteries.

Syrah said the original September 16 deadline, which was initially extended to November 15, had been further pushed to January 16, 2026.

"While Syrah does not accept it is in default under the offtake agreement, the parties have extended the cure date to 16 January 2026," the company said in a statement.

Syrah's 2021 contract with Tesla aimed to supply 8,000 metric tons of graphite anode materials over a four-year period from its Vidalia plant in the U.S. state of Louisiana.

The facility is the only vertically integrated, large-scale anode material producer outside China, helping reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese supplies that dominate the market.

Syrah said under its agreement, Tesla could terminate the offtake agreement if final qualification of the plant's active anode material was not achieved by February 9, 2026.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

In a separate announcement, Syrah said a subsidiary had received $8.5 million under its United States International Development Finance Corporation loan of $150 million, lending support to its Balama graphite operations in Mozambique that faced operational disruptions last year due to nationwide protests.

(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed)