Here's a great post from jayfish on the info board that I thought deserved to be reposted here. It highlights a lot of great points about Zenyatta. Here it is. Thanks jayfish for the great summary.
"Sometimes even people familiar with Zen need to sit back and refresh their knowledge of this great project.
I did a bit of reading myself and it was nice to come away even more confident that Zenyatta is head and shoulders above any graphite play out there .
What makes this story better is the endorsements by both industry and academics.
Here is a short summary
1. Zenyatta discovered an extremely rare (volcanic type) & large graphite deposit in Ontario, Canada while looking for Copper-Nickel in 2011-12.
a. The unusual mode of formation accounts for favourable purity, crystallinity & particle size of graphite found in the Albany deposit.
Dr. Andrew Conly (Professor, Geology @ Lakehead University) observed, “Evidence has shown that Zenyatta has discovered a unique sub-class of a hydrothermal graphite deposit unlike any other. Igneous breccia-hosted graphite deposits like Albany are very rare, and to the best of my knowledge, none are currently being mined or even in an advanced stage of exploration globally. The far more common flake type (sedimentary) graphite deposits form through a completely different geological process.”
2. A Unique Purification Process Developed by SGS in 2013-14 Using Sodium Hydroxide is Yielding Highly Crystalline Graphite Exceeding 99.9% Purity.
a. Given the ultra-high purity, Zenyatta has positioned the material to compete in the US$15 billion (1.5Mt annually) synthetic graphite market.
Dr. Bharat Chahar (formerly with Conoco), VP of Market Development for Zenyatta stated, “Since the purity & particle size of the material provided by SGS processing was already in the range needed for various applications, no further milling or purification was needed. Compared to natural flake graphite supplied to the industry from China, no extra treatment and no dangerous hydrofluoric acid purification process were required to generate our material.”
3. Testing in 2015 has shown the performance of Albany graphite to be in the range or better for material used presently for Lithium-ion batteries, fuel cells, powder metallurgy and graphene.
a. Zenyatta has attracted the attention of >35 graphite end-users, academic labs and third party testing facilities in Europe, North America and Asia under confidentiality agreements.
Dr. Rajesh Bashyam, Senior Research Scientist, R&D for Ballard Power commented, “Our results showed that Albany graphite samples had high thermal stability and more corrosion resistance than typical graphite. We are extremely pleased to be working with a new graphite material that may potentially give Ballard Power Systems a competitive advantage in the area of fuel cell sub-components.”
The world trend is to develop products for technological applications that need extraordinary performance using ultra-high purity graphite powder at an affordable cost. A high degree of crystallinity and purity results in various positive qualities that graphite is known for such as electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, compressibility, dimension stability, bending strength and lubricity. Some of these key physical and chemical properties make it critical to modern industry for emerging high-tech or clean-tech applications. There is a robust demand for graphite across the many traditional industrial uses as well as demand from evolving technology. New applications that require graphite are being created constantly. There has been a sharp increase of focus surrounding production techniques of battery grade material for example. Many companies are focused on developing a supply chain based on a more environmentally friendly method rather than the hydrofluoric acid-intensive practices that Chinese companies’ use.
Zenyatta’s 100% owned Albany Graphite Deposit is located 30 km north of the Trans-Canada Highway, power line and natural gas pipeline near the community of Hearst. A rail line is located 70 km away with an all-weather road approximately 4-5 km from the graphite deposit.
In the Preliminary Economic Assessment (‘PEA’), RPA Inc. proposes a 22 year, open-pit mine with a processing plant located on site which generates a strong annual cash-flow and high rate of return. Open-Pit, Life of Mine of 22 years is based on less than 50% of the Indicated & Inferred Mineral Resources. The deposit is open at depth. A 3,000 tonne per day mine and process plant to produce 30,000 tonnes of high purity (>99.9% Cg) graphite annually; Price of purified graphite @ US$7,500 per tonne and unitoperating costs of US$1,815 per tonne showing a margin of US$5,685 per tonne; Total Life Of Mine gross revenue of ~US$5 Billion and an after-tax average annual cash flow of ~US$115Million. Total Direct Capital Cost of ~US$232M + EPCM of ~US$59M + Contingency (24%) of ~US$69M for a Total Initial Capital Cost of ~US$360M (C$1=US$0.70 exchange rate).
The Albany graphite deposit can be upgraded to >99.9% Cg without the use of aggressive acids or high thermal treatment. Production cost under the recent PEA completed by RPA shows a low of ~US$1.8/kg versus US$6-7/kg for synthetic. In addition, all of the product from the Zenyatta upgrading process is high purity, high value graphite compared to ‘flake’ type graphite producers who have a significant yield loss in their upgrading process. Zen appears to be a disruptor in the graphite space with an innovative process to upgrade its unique material. The Company is positioned to provide the world with a large tonnage (long-life), raw graphite material with a superior and consistent high purity product. It will also be derived from a benign deposit with an environmentally sound and cost-effective process in a politically stable jurisdiction. Zenyatta may be very attractive to many companies that are seeking to be 100% self-sufficient and abide by their environmental philosophy in the graphite supply chain.
As the global movement against pollution intensifies, companies and countries will have to align their supply chains with their environmental philosophies and what the world expects of them. A growing wave of engaged youth are at the forefront of this ‘green’ awareness campaign; we cannot ignore this impatient and well organized group if we want to transition to a more sustainable energy future for them. A small Canadian company with ZEN graphite may be part of the solution for a smaller environmental footprint.
ZEN Marketing Team:
Dr. Bharat Chahar, Ph.D., P.E. - VP Market Development:
• Bharat is a chemical engineer with more than 30 years of carbon research and development experience with ConocoPhillips based in Houston, Texas. Dr. Chahar obtained a B.Tech. (Chemical Eng.), Indian Institute of Technology at Delhi, INDIA; a M.Sc. (Chemical Eng.), University of Alberta, Edmonton, CANADA and a Ph.D. (Chemical Eng.), Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA.
• From 2002 to 2013 Dr. Chahar was Global Marketing and Product Manager for CPREME® Graphite Materials at ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66. He led the creation and development of this new business to produce and supply synthetic graphite anode material for Lithium-ion batteries.
• From 1990 to 2002 Dr. Chahar was Manager of Carbon Business and Director of Carbon Products Development at CONOCO Inc. This position focused on Conoco’s efforts to develop new carbon products and manage development of heavy oil upgrading technologies; he was responsible for providing technology support for the Global Specialty Coke business and developing new carbon products. The group consisted of about 25 scientists and technicians with variety of backgrounds. He also worked with the Carbon Fibers Business team to find synergistic opportunities to market fibers with other carbon products. He also led the effort to evaluate and recommend steps to successfully commercialize a new upgrading technology at Conoco’s joint venture in Venezuela.
Mr. Tadashi Yamashita, M.Sc. - Market Development Consultant:
· Masters degrees in Chemical Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology and started a long career with Mitsui Chemical upon graduation. He served in various divisions of Mitsui Chemical during his 33 years career there including General Manager roles in New York and Tokyo offices.
• He managed various new chemical products development as part of the Advanced Composite Material Division at Mitsui. In one of his jobs, Mr. Yamashita was responsible for sales & marketing of Separator and Electrolyte solution of Lithium-ion batteries and energy related materials.
• In 2001, Mr. Yamashita became President of Conoco Carbon Fibers (Japan) which was a subsidiary of ConocoPhillips. This position focused on Conoco’s efforts to develop and market new carbon fibre products to various industries based on a unique carbon fiber technology. In this assignment, he was responsible for developing and implementing strategy for growing Conoco’s new carbon fiber product portfolio, sales of this product in Asia and extending company’s carbon capabilities.
• From 2003 to 2013 He worked with ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 on marketing and business development of CPREME® Graphite Materials in Asia. Mr. Yamashita was involved in this business from the inception of the product and helped develop the product strategy, commercialization and marketing plans.
Board & Management;Consultants & Advisors
Aubrey Eveleigh, President & CEO, Director; P.Geo.
Tom Mustapic, CFO; B. Comm.
Dr. Bharat Chahar, VP Market Development; PhD., P.E.
Peter Wood, VP Exploration; P.Eng., P.Geo.
Barry Allan, Director; B.Sc., MBA
Ken Stowe, Director; M.Sc., P.Eng.
Brian Davey, Director
Dr. John Morganti,PhD.,P.Geo.
Don Hains, B.Sc., MBA, P.Geo.
Tadashi Yamashita, M.Sc.
David Fox, B.Comm., LL.B.
Dr. Andrew Conly, PhD.
Donald Bubar, M.Sc., P.Geo."
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