Company’s lab-produced battery-grade
ULTRA-CSPG™ performs as well as or better than industry
benchmarks
Builds on positive results for battery grade
ULTRA-PMG™
Westwater Resources, Inc. (Nasdaq: WWR), an explorer and
developer of U.S.-based mineral resources essential to the clean
energy industry, today announced that independent performance
testing of its ULTRA-CSPG™ (Coated Spherical Purified Graphite
"CSPG”) material produced in a laboratory setting shows that it
performs as well or better than benchmark commercially available
natural flake and synthetic materials. ULTRA-CSPG™ is Westwater’s
anode material which is utilized in lithium ion batteries, which
are used in the fast-growing electric vehicle market.
Christopher M. Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer,
said, “The positive test results on spherical purified graphite,
which follow the positive independent test results on our first
lab-produced graphite, ULTRA-PMG™, demonstrates that we are
progressing with the commercialization of these American-made
battery-grade graphite materials. To this end, plus the addition of
new Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Jay Wago, an industry
veteran with 20 years’ experience in battery materials marketing
and development, we are preparing to bring these materials to the
marketplace.”
Westwater has produced ULTRA-CSPG™ product using
laboratory-scale equipment that simulates full-scale production
from purification to spheroidization and coating. The Company has
been working with Dorfner AnzaPlan in Germany and Polaris
Laboratories in the United States (“Polaris”) to commercialize
processing methodology to produce various sizes of ULTRA-CSPG™
products. ULTRA-CSPG is Westwater’s anode material for use in
Lithium Ion batteries. These batteries are used in the fast-growing
electric vehicle market.
Initial processing runs comprised of purification, milling and
spheroidization produced spherical purified graphite samples with
an average particle size of 13.5 micrometers; these samples were
then sent to Polaris, an independent laboratory in the USA, for
testing to evaluate the product’s performance. Samples were then
surface coated and assembled into half-cell coin cells (an industry
standard testing method).
Polaris measured electrochemical performance at different
continuous discharge rates (C-rates) from 0.1C to 2C. The first 13
cycling lithiation/de-lithiation tests (the incorporation of
lithium into an electrode in a lithium-ion battery) achieved 9.6%
irreversible capacity loss and 353.5 mAhr/g reversible capacity at
0.1C rate (C/10). After initial cycle tests, 10 cycles of power
testing were conducted from C/5 to 2C rates. These power results
were similar to the results obtained for industry benchmark
graphite materials and, following power tests, 4 cycles at C/10
rates were performed. These tests also showed C/10 capacities
slightly higher than the initial reversible capacity, indicating
fade is not a significant feature for Westwater’s CSPG.
The coulombic efficiencies (the efficiency with which charge is
transferred in a system facilitating an electrochemical reaction)
after the first cycle were about 99.9%. During cycling, area
specific impedance (ASI) values in ohm-cm2 were recorded. ASI
values ranged from 20-40 ohm-cm2, which was slightly better than
nominal values for benchmark materials in the 30-50 ohm-cm2 range
for the same conditions. Westwater continues to optimize
spheroidization processes and cell test conditions (calendar
density, electrolyte chemistry, coat loading rate, BET surface
area, etc.).
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 Mine located across 41,900 acres (~17,000
hectares) in east-central Alabama. Processing pilot plant
operations are scheduled in the fourth quarter of 2020, producing
ULTRA-PMG™, ULTRA-DEXDG™ and ULTRA-CSPG™ in quantities that
facilitate qualification testing at potential customers. In
addition, the Company maintains lithium mineral properties in
prospective lithium brine basins in Nevada and Utah. Westwater’s
uranium projects are located in Texas and New Mexico. In Texas, the
Company has two licensed and currently idled uranium processing
facilities and approximately 11,000 acres (~4,400 hectares) of
prospective in-situ recovery uranium projects. In New Mexico, the
Company controls mineral rights encompassing approximately 188,700
acres (~76,000 hectares) in the prolific Grants Mineral Belt, which
is one of the largest concentrations of sandstone-hosted uranium
deposits in the world. Incorporated in 1977 as Uranium Resources,
Inc., Westwater also owns an extensive uranium information database
of historic drill hole logs, assay certificates, maps, and
technical reports for the western United States. For more
information, 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,” 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 statements relating to the
performance of and market for the Company’s graphite products are
forward-looking statements. 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
integrate Alabama Graphite Corporation’s business into its own, and
the risk that additional analysis of the Coosa Graphite Project may
result in revisions to the findings of WWR’s initial optimization
study; (b) the Company’s ability to raise additional capital in the
future; (c) spot price and long-term contract price of graphite,
lithium, vanadium and uranium; (d) risks associated with our
operations and the operations of our partners such as Dorfner
Anzaplan and Polaris Laboratories, including the impact of
COVID-19; (e) operating conditions at the Company’s projects; (f)
government and tribal regulation of the graphite industry, the
lithium industry, the vanadium industry, the uranium industry, and
the power industry, and government support for domestic uranium
production and nuclear power; (g) world-wide graphite, lithium,
vanadium and uranium supply and demand, including the supply and
demand for lithium-based batteries; (h) maintaining sufficient
financial assurance in the form of sufficiently collateralized
surety instruments; (i) 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 in Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada; (j) the
ability of the Company to enter into and successfully close
acquisitions or other material transactions; (k) the results of the
Company’s lithium brine exploration activities at the Columbus
Basin and Sal Rica projects, and the possibility that future
exploration results may be materially less promising than initial
exploration result; (l) any graphite, lithium, vanadium or uranium
discoveries not being in high-enough concentration to make it
economic to extract the metals; (m) currently pending or new
litigation or arbitration; and (n) other factors which are more
fully described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K,
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/20200709005214/en/
Westwater Resources Contact: Christopher M. Jones, President
& CEO Phone: 303.531.0480 Jeff Vigil, VP Finance & CFO
Phone: 303.531.0481 Email: Info@WestwaterResources.net
Investor Relations Contact: Porter, LeVay & Rose Michael
Porter Phone: 212.564.4700 Email: Westwater@plrinvest.com
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