Dec 19 (Reuters) - Australia's Novonix Ltd ( NVX ) said

on Thursday it had joined a petition urging U.S. authorities to

investigate China's alleged dumping of battery-grade graphite at

unfair prices, potentially harming domestic producers.

The battery metals and technology company has joined the

American Active Anode Material Producers (AAAMP) in filing the

petition.

"The filing asserts China is harming the nascent domestic

graphite industry by exporting artificially cheap battery-grade

graphite into the U.S., denying North American producers a fair

opportunity to enter the market," Novonix ( NVX ) said in a statement.

North American graphite miners asked the U.S. government on

Wednesday to impose a tariff as high as 920% on Chinese

suppliers of the battery metal to counter what they describe as

Beijing's "malicious trade practices."

In a separate statement, Australia's Syrah Resources ( SYAAF )

said its unit, Syrah Technologies LLC, filed an

anti-dumping and countervailing duty petition with the U.S.

Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission.

Syrah's petition, submitted in collaboration with the

North American Graphite Alliance, seeks an investigation into

Chinese exports of natural and synthetic graphite active anode

material used in lithium-ion batteries.