Graphite One Announces Initial Shipment of Material to U.s. Industrial Processing Partner Advanced Graphite Material to Be Made Available to Potential End-Users IN Targeted Market Segments
WWW.GRAPHITEONEINC.COM GPH: TSX-V GPHOF: OTCQB
GRAPHITE ONE ANNOUNCES INITIAL SHIPMENT OF MATERIAL TO U.S.
INDUSTRIAL PROCESSING PARTNER
ADVANCED GRAPHITE MATERIAL TO BE MADE AVAILABLE TO POTENTIAL END-USERS IN
TARGETED MARKET SEGMENTS
May 14, 2019 -- Graphite One Inc. (GPH: TSX -V; GPHOF: OTCQB) (“Graphite One” or the
“Company”) announced today it has initiated a pilot scale program with the first step being the
shipment of approximately 12,000 pounds of raw graphitic material from Graphite Creek’s
surface sampling program to Graphite One’s U.S. -based industrial partner for processing into
advanced graphite materials.
“This is a significant step towards our goal to establish our STAX flake graphite as the key raw
material in the value -added, all -American supply chain from mine -to-value-added proces sing,
and beyond that to batteries and other original equipment manufacturer a pplications,” said
Anthony Huston, CEO of Graphite One. (See additional detail on Graphite One’s STAX Graphite
below.)
While the industrial partner is unnamed for purposes of preserving the Company’s competitive
advantage, it is an established industry enterprise credited for its work with the U.S. Government
and the commercial graphite and carbon industry.
The pilot program is expected to produce critical data and sample material for the Pre-Feasibility
Study of the Company’s Graphite Creek Project. The Project includes the mining and processing
of graphitic material near Nome, Alaska as well as the production of coated spherical graphite
and other advanced materials from that precursor at a processing plant whose location is to be
finalized.
Working closely with Graphite One, the industrial partner will conduct primary and secondary
processing of the Graphite Creek mater ial, to include production of batches of value -added
products for market sampling in the electric battery/energy storage and other high profit margin
market segments.
Launching of the pilot program for the Graphite Creek Project coincides with the welcome news
of the emerging U.S. Government ’s recognition of a need to reduce the United States’
dependence on imports of certain critical minerals which form the building blocks of U.S. energy
independence. Pursuant to President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Ord er #13817, dated
December 20, 2017 and entitled: “A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of
Critical Minerals”, the Secretary of the Interior in May 2018 published the final list of 35 mineral
commodities deemed “critical” under the defi nition provided in the Executive Order. Natural
crystalline flake graphite, such as the kind available at the Graphite Creek deposit, is on the
Critical Minerals List. Natural graphite currently makes up about 46% of lithium -ion battery
anodes with synthetic (artificial) graphite accounting for about 43% (Avicenne Energy, 2017).
WWW.GRAPHITEONEINC.COM GPH: TSX-V GPHOF: OTCQB
Mr. Huston’s recent op-ed in The Economic Standard on graphite’s place in the context of Critical
Minerals issues can be viewed here.
About STAX Graphite’s Unique Features and Ongoing R&D Work
Graphite One’s graphite mineralization has been discovered to be unique and distinct from other
known graphite materials as it exhibits naturally the morphological characteristics of an already-
processed material. To highlight these unique properties, the Company has branded Graphite
Creek graphite by the acronym “STAX”: “S”, as in Spheroidal; “T”, as in Thin; “A”, as in Aggregate;
and, “X” as in Expanded. The Company has applied to trademark “STAX GRAPHITE” in the United
States and Canada.
One measure of performance comparison is discharge capacity, a measure of a battery’s energy
storage capability once first charged. The b est results with STAX coated spherical graphite (“ C-
SPG “) achieved reversible discharge capacity as high as 370.1 Ah/kg – or 0.5% below the
theoretical maximum possible. For uncoated spherical graphite (“U-SPG”), the best result
achieved the theoretical m aximum of 372 A h/kg. In other tests with STAX U-SPG, the first
discharge capacities of most showed a deviation of just 1% from the theoretical maximum and
the greatest deviation was 3%. In addition, all the STAX tests performed demonstrated the ability
to achieve the same or similar discharge capacities in repeated subsequent charging/discharging
cycles.1
The ability to reach and closely approach theoretical
maximum discharge capacity and to consistently
maintain high repeated values on cycling
demonstrates the high performance potential of STAX
graphite.
Research and development work is ongoing to better
understand and quantify the significant features of
STAX graphite as well as assess its performance in commercial equipment for establishing
purchase specifications. The unique morphologies of STAX graphite may well turn out to be the
major competitive advantage of Graphite One by contributing to lower costs and superior
performance.
About Graphite One
GRAPHITE ONE INC. continues to develop its Graphite Creek Project (the “Project”), whereby the
Company could potentially become an American producer of high grade Coated Spherical
Graphite (“CSG”) that is integrated with a domestic graphite resource. The Project is proposed
as a vertically integrated enterprise to mine, process and manufacture high grade CSG primarily
for the lithium -ion electric vehicle battery market. As set forth in the Company’s Preliminary
1 Source: NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Analysis on the Graphite One Project; dated June 30, 2017 and filed July
12, 2017.
WWW.GRAPHITEONEINC.COM GPH: TSX-V GPHOF: OTCQB
Economic Assessment, potential graphite mine ralization mined from the Company’s Graphite
Creek Property is expected to be processed into concentrate at a graphite processing plant. The
proposed processing plant would be located on the Graphite Creek Property situated on the
Seward Peninsula about 6 0 kilometers north of Nome, Alaska. CSG and other value -added
graphite products would likely be manufactured from the concentrate at the Company’s
proposed graphite product manufacturing facility, the location of which is the subject of further
study and analysis. The Company intends to make a production decision on the Project once a
feasibility study is completed.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
"Anthony Huston” (signed)
For more information on Graphite One Inc., please visit the Company’s website,
www.GraphiteOneInc.com or contact:
Anthony Huston
CEO, President & Director
Tel: (604) 889-4251
Email: [email protected]
Investor Relations Contact
1-604-684-6730
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be forward -looking statements. All
statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts that address implementation of a more
established shipment program , exploration drilling, exploitation activities , future production,
establishment of a processing plant, and events or developments that the Company expects, are forward-
looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectatio ns expressed in such forward -looking
statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future
performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward -looking
statements. Factors tha t could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward -looking
statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization,
uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licens es and title and delays due to third
party opposition, changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and
exploitation, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business
conditions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which
is given as of the date it is expressed in this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to
update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable securities laws.
For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings
that are available at www.sedar.com.