Westwater’s Coosa Project Graphite Performs Well Over Extended Period Testing
April 15 2019 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
U.S. Made Coated Spherical Purified Graphite
Performs Better Than Chinese Control Sample Over 200+ Cycles
Westwater Resources, Inc. (“Westwater,” or the “Company”)
(Nasdaq: WWR), an energy materials development company, is
pleased to provide the long-term cycling data obtained by
independent tests conducted on coated spherical purified natural
crystalline graphite (ULTRA-CSPG) from the Company’s Coosa Graphite
Project.
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the full release here:
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Figure 1. Initial galvanostatic cycling
of coated purified spheroidal graphite from Coosa Graphite Project,
CR2016 coin cells. Li/Li+ reference. Electrolyte: LP-81 + 5 wt. %
vinylene carbonate. C/20 charge-discharge rate. (Graphic: Business
Wire)
Christopher M. Jones, President and CEO of Westwater Resources,
stated: “We are proud to be among the first in the graphite
development space to release long-term cycling performance results
of our purified coated natural flake spherical graphite materials
from our Coosa Graphite Project. We are not aware of anyone ever to
date to report long-term cycling data for U.S. sourced natural
flake graphite materials. We are also pleased that the test results
showed continued improvements on the irreversible capacity loss
compared to tests completed on Coosa ULTRA-CSPG in 2016.”
“The lithium-ion battery market growth we see worldwide is
driven by the fast-growing market for electric vehicles. Every
major automaker in the world either has an electric vehicle product
line, or is considering the development of one. We are excited to
be part of this growth, and these positive tests of ULTRA-CSPG mean
that we are one large step closer to commercialization.”
As indicated in Westwater’s news release on April 11, 2019,
electrode formulation for the half cells utilizing the uncoated
spherical graphite (SPG) was optimized and tested. These tests
showed positive long-term cycling performance although uncoated SPG
is not directly used in battery operations. For lithium-ion
batteries, coated spherical graphite like our ULTRA-CSPG is used as
an anode material. Westwater’s ULTRA-CSPG is sourced and
manufactured exclusively from the Company’s Coosa Graphite Project
property, located in Coosa County, Alabama, USA. Testing details
are presented below.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TEST RESULTS
- Extremely low irreversible capacity
loss of 4.03% due to optimized electrode formulation.
- First ever long-term cycling data on
U.S. sourced CSPG.
- Very stable cycling performance over
200 cycles.
- Superior performance compared to the
leading CSPG originated from China.
TEST SUMMARY
- Purification, micronization,
spheronization, classification and surface coating of our natural
flake graphite from the Coosa Graphite Project were achieved
through the Company’s innovative, proprietary specialty processes.
The purity level achieved was greater than 99.95 wt%.
- ULTRA-CSPG grades were formulated into
the battery grade coatings and cast on copper foil. CR2016 coin
cells were assembled and tested using the graphite as anode versus
Li/Li+ counter electrode assembly (half-cell). Low temperature LP81
electrolyte from BASF was utilized in the cells. The upper and
lower voltage limits during cycling was 0.01 V and 2 V vs Li/Li+.
Charging and discharging current rate was C/20.
- The properties of ULTRA-CSPG from the
Coosa Graphite Project are presented in the table below.
PARAMETER
VALUE (UNITS) TRADE NAME
ULTRA-CSPG
LOSS ON
IGNITION > 99.95 (wt%)
ASH% < 0.05 (wt%)
SCOTT
VOLUME 0.59 (g/cm3)
TAP DENSITY 0.93 (g/cm3)
BET
SURFACE AREA 2.1 m2/g
D50
18.9 (micrometer)
- Reversible capacity, irreversible
capacity and irreversible capacity loss are the most critical
metrics for measuring battery performance. These parameters are
obtained after the first charge and discharge cycle. Figure 1 shows
the initial galvanostatic cycling results for the first 2
cycles.
a.
Reversible capacity: 359.9 mAh/g. b. Irreversible
capacity: 375 mAh/g. This is the initial charge capacity. c.
Irreversible capacity loss (ICL): 4.03% which yields 95.97%
efficiency. This remarkably low ICL value is achieved by
optimization of electrode composition, calendared density, active
material loading and electrode formulation. In 2016, the tests
performed on Coosa ULTRA-CSPG indicated ICL as 5.09% with 94.91%
efficiency. The present formulations improved the ICL value.
- The long-term cycling tests were
performed on optimized formulations and the results are presented
in Figure 2. As shown, our ULTRA-CSPG showed stable cycling
performance over 200 cycles. The overall reversible capacity
reduction of ULTRA-CSPG over the 200+ cycles was estimated as
342.65 / 351.2 = 2.43%. Consistent with commonly accepted
conventions of the battery industry, cycling is typically run until
80% of the initial reversible capacity is reached. Stated ultra-low
degradation upon prolonged cycling is a very positive sign. This
ability to maintain low degradation may enable Coosa material to
qualify for use as anodes in batteries with greatly extended cycle
life of beyond 1,000 cycles.
- Long-term cycling data was benchmarked
against electrochemical performance of leading coated natural
spheroidal graphite originated from Hunan province in China. The
performance of ULTRA-CSPG exceeded the performance of the Chinese
control sample over the 200 cycles.
- These tests were conducted by a leading
independent North American energy materials laboratory specializing
in research and development on industrial graphite, carbon and
batteries.
About Westwater Resources
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. In addition, the Company maintains lithium mineral
properties in three 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
future performance of the Company’s coated spherical purified
graphite, from the Coosa Graphite Project or otherwise, 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
domestic operations; (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; (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, Railroad Valley, and Sal Rica projects, and the possibility
that future exploration results may be materially less promising
than initial exploration result; (I) 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. The results of the initial optimization study
are preliminary in nature and subject to revision following WWR’s
further analysis of the Coosa Graphite Project.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190415005228/en/
Westwater Resources Contact:Christopher M. Jones,
President & CEOPhone: 303.531.0480
Jeff Vigil, VP Finance & CFOPhone: 303.531.0481Email:
Info@WestwaterResources.net
Investor Relations Contact:Michael PorterPorter, LeVay
and RosePhone: 212.564.4700Email:
Westwater@plrinvest.com
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