Kibaran Resources (ASX: KNL) is one of our preferred graphite sector exposures, maintaining aggressive exploration and appraisal activity with respect to all its advanced Tanzanian graphite projects, although its flagship Epanko project remains very much the current focus. Kibaran rose by 12% yesterday after announcing a ground-breaking off-take agreement with ThyssenKrupp for 20,000t p.a. (50% of initial production) over a 10-year period, with a further 5-year option. Confidence in the stock is strengthening as a result of a lot of hard work over the past 18 months (high-grade drilling results, exceptional metallurgical test-work results, upgraded JORC-compliant resource base, as well as positive Scoping Study and BFS results that demonstrate robust project commerciality). This has been reinforced by the ThyssenKrupp off-take deal, which is a company-transforming transaction that sets Kibaran on the path to production status in 2017.