Production and Delivery of Unique Battery
Graphite Products for Customer Testing on Schedule
Westwater Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: WWR), an energy
materials development company, today provided an update on progress
at its pilot plant operations at Dorfner Anzaplan’s facilities near
Amberg, Germany, as well as at facilities in Frankfort, Germany,
Chicago, Illinois, and Buffalo, New York. This combined effort is
expected to produce a total of more than 10 metric tonnes of three
trademarked Westwater battery-grade graphite products: ULTRA-PMG™,
ULTRA-CSPG™ and ULTRA-DEXDG™, which were previously produced at a
bench scale.
The Westwater pilot plant operations are being conducted to
inform and enhance design work for the full-scale production
facility, and to produce products for testing by potential
customers. On October 9, 2020, the Company announced it had taken
delivery of 30 metric tonnes of natural flake graphite concentrate
at Dorfner Anzaplan’s facility. The concentrate was purchased under
the Company’s long-term graphite supply agreement.
“I am extremely pleased with our team’s performance in all
aspects of our pilot plant operations,” said Chris Jones, CEO of
Westwater Resources. “Our team has worked diligently to design the
pilot plant that will leverage Westwater’s unique battery graphite
process and deliver products suitable for customer testing. We
expect that the delivery of product for customer testing and the
design of a full production-scale facility will be opportunities
for Westwater to build on its recent success and further enhance
shareholder value.”
“Core to our pilot plant program is our measurement of all
inputs, such as energy and reagents, as well as all outputs, to
ensure these high-performance battery-grade graphite products are
manufactured in a manner that does not cause harm to our employees,
to our communities and to the environment,” Jones continued. “We
will use these measurements in our Bankable Feasibility Study,
which we expect to complete by mid-2021. The feasibility study will
include plans for the final design of the commercial production
facility and will be the basis for the construction of the facility
from mid-2021 through 2022. We expect to commission the commercial
plant in the fourth quarter of 2022.”
The Pilot Plant Progress
Four processes (reviewed below) will be demonstrated through the
operation of the pilot plant. These environmentally sound
processes, when properly integrated, will produce battery-grade
graphite for the growing EV (Electric Vehicle) and other battery
markets. Graphite is essential to battery construction, and there
are no domestic US sources for this important material.
Purification
Purification is the first step in processing battery-grade
graphite. Our proprietary process is the subject of an application
for a patent with the US Patent Office. In early December 2020, we
anticipate that we will have finished the first stage of
purification for 8 metric tonnes of battery-grade graphite. We
expect that the remaining stages will be finished in January 2021,
producing a total of 15 metric tonnes of purified material for
delivery to the remaining steps in the process. Our engineering
partner, Dorfner Anzaplan, is supervising the purification effort
utilizing experts at its facility near Hirshau, Germany, and
contracted facilities elsewhere in Germany. As well, high
temperature processes are being tested in upstate New York
utilizing an experienced design team for inclusion in our Bankable
Feasibility Study, set to be complete at mid-year 2021.
PMG Production
Purified Micronized Graphite (PMG) production is scheduled for
late December at the Netzsch Group’s facilities in Frankfort,
Germany, under the supervision of experts at Dorfner Anzaplan. This
part of our process involves sizing and sorting into four size
ranges from 5 to 45 microns. Approximately 5 metric tonnes of
finished PMG is expected to be produced by the end of January for
internal performance testing and, once proven to perform, will be
available for customer performance testing and qualification.
CSPG Production
Spheronized Purified Graphite (SPG) production is scheduled to
be complete in January 2021 also at the Netzsch Group’s facilities
in Frankfort, Germany, under the supervision of experts at Dorfner
Anzaplan. This part of our process involves rounding the natural
graphite flakes into small sphereoids and sorting them into three
size ranges from 10 to 35 microns. Approximately 3.5 metric tonnes
of finished SPG is expected to be produced for coating and internal
performance testing. This Coated Spheronized Purified Graphite
(CSPG), once proven to perform, will be available for customer
performance testing and qualification.
DEXDG Production
Delaminated Expanded Graphite (DEXDG) is our high-performance
development product for all types of batteries. It is used as a
conductivity enhancer. We expect to make approximately 2 metric
tonnes in various sizes by the end of January utilizing an expert
lab in the United States. We have successfully made DEXDG using
processes that will be tested at the pilot scale level. We expect 1
metric ton of DEXDG to be produced by the end of January 2021. Once
performance testing is complete on the pilot plant DEXDG product,
we will be in a position to send samples to prospective
customers.
The Westwater Battery Graphite
Process
The important distinguishing characteristics of the Westwater
Battery Graphite Process are:
- Our process produces three battery-grade graphite materials,
broadening our markets to all types of batteries, rather than
relying upon a single battery product line to provide
economics.
- Our process does not use harmful hydrofluoric acid like our
Chinese competitors.
- Off-spec materials generated by our Coated Spherical Graphite
process will be utilized to bolster our Purified Micronized
Graphite production.
About Westwater Resources
Westwater Resources (NASDAQ: WWR) is focused on developing
energy-related materials. The Company’s battery-materials projects
include the Coosa Graphite Project — the most advanced natural
flake graphite project in the contiguous United States — and the
associated Coosa Graphite Deposit located across 41,900 acres
(~17,000 hectares) in east-central Alabama. Pilot plant operations
are expected to produce ULTRA-PMG™, ULTRA-DEXDG™ and ULTRA-CSPG™ in
quantities that facilitate qualification testing at potential
customers. For more information, please visit
www.westwaterresources.net.
Cautionary Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and
assumptions and are identified by words such as "expects,"
"estimates," "projects," "anticipates," "believes," "could,"
“scheduled,” and other similar words. All statements addressing
events or developments that WWR expects or anticipates will occur
in the future, including but not limited to the commencement of
operations at the Company’s proposed pilot plant facilities,
including the timing and quantity of battery graphite products to
be produced from the graphite concentrate delivered to the Company;
the timing and contents of a Bankable Feasibility Study; the
Company’s anticipated intellectual property rights, future
production of battery-grade graphite products, future financing
activities and financial resources, and activities involving the
Coosa Graphite Project and the Coosa Graphite Deposit. Because they
are forward-looking, they should be evaluated in light of important
risk factors and uncertainties. These risk factors and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, (a) the Company’s
ability to successfully construct and operate a pilot plant capable
of producing battery-grade materials in quantities and on schedules
consistent with the Coosa Graphite Project business plan; (b) the
Company’s ability to raise additional capital in the future
including the ability to utilize existing financing facilities; (c)
spot price and long-term contract price of graphite and vanadium;
(d) risks associated with our operations and the operations of our
partners such as Dorfner Anzaplan, including the impact of COVID-19
and its potential impacts to the capital markets; (e) operating
conditions at the Company’s projects; (f) government and tribal
regulation of the graphite industry and the vanadium industry; (g)
world-wide graphite and vanadium supply and demand, including the
supply and demand for energy storage batteries; (h) unanticipated
geological, processing, regulatory and legal or other problems the
Company may encounter in the jurisdictions where the Company
operates or intends to operate, including but not limited to
Alabama; (i) the ability of the Company to enter into and
successfully close acquisitions or other material transactions,
including the proposed transaction to sell uranium assets in Texas
and New Mexico to enCore Energy; (j) any graphite or vanadium
discoveries not being in high-enough concentration to make it
economic to extract the minerals; (k) currently pending or new
litigation or arbitration; and (l) other factors which are more
fully described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K,
subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and other filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these
risks or uncertainties materialize or should any of the Company’s
underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary
materially from those currently anticipated. In addition, undue
reliance should not be placed on the Company’s forward-looking
statements. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any
obligation to update or publicly announce any revisions to any of
the forward-looking statements contained in this news release.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201207005279/en/
Westwater Resources Christopher M. Jones, President &
CEO Phone: 303.531.0480 Jeff Vigil, VP Finance & CFO Phone:
303.531.0481 Email: Info@WestwaterResources.net
Product Sales Contact: Jay Wago, Vice President – Sales and
Marketing Phone: 303.531.0472 Email:
Sales@westwaterresources.net
Investor Relations Porter, LeVay & Rose Michael
Porter Phone: 212.564.4700 Email: Westwater@plrinvest.com
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