Great Lakes Graphite Inc (GLK.H)

[21elliot21]

http://novocarbon.com/great-lakes-graphite-pursues-us-department-of-defense-opportunities/

[mattvl]

Why would they? They sold the site to Saint Jean Carbon.

[rechnerhand]

Great Lakes Graphite Announces Initial Resource Estimate for Lochaber


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/great-lakes-graphite-announces-initial-resource-estimate-for-lochaber-2015-06-17-121733836?reflink=MW_news_stmp

[rechnerhand]

NR!!

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=114541767

[rechnerhand]

Great Lakes Graphite to get into the game earlier

http://investorintel.com/technology-metals-intel/great-lakes-graphite-to-get-into-the-game-earlier/

[chambers]

Great Lakes Graphite finishes three holes at Lochaber


2014-12-18 10:22 ET - News Release


Mr. Paul Gorman reports

GREAT LAKES GRAPHITE CONTINUES LOCHABER WINTER DRILL PROGRAM

Great Lakes Graphite Inc. is providing the following update on the 2014 Lochaber winter drill program. Kyle Loney, president of Wolf Mountain Drilling, the contractor conducting the Lochaber drill program, reports that three of the six 100-metre holes have now been completed. Further, Mr. Loney indicates that the program continues to progress on schedule. Sebastien Bernier, PGeo, a representative of SRK Consulting, which has been engaged to complete a National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource estimate on the Lochaber property will be on-site commencing this weekend.

Paul Gorman, chief executive officer, said: "This drill program will provide important infill exploration data for the resource estimate as well as the feasibility study that is anticipated to follow immediately upon completion of the estimate. As each drill hole is completed, the drill core is being transported to our Sudbury core shack. Once there, the core is logged, split and prepared for assay. Core samples will then be shipped to AGAT Laboratories Inc. in Mississauga for analysis. The company anticipates that drilling will be completed before year-end."

Martin Ethier, PGeo, who is a member of the Order of Geologists of Quebec and a qualified person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release.

© 2014 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

[chambers]

Rock Tech now holds 10.4% of Great Lakes shares

Ticker Symbol: C:RCK C:GLK
Rock Tech now holds 10.4% of Great Lakes shares
Rock Tech Lithium Inc (2) (C:RCK)
Shares Issued 10,772,010
Thursday December 04 2014 - News Release
Also Great Lakes Graphite Inc (C:GLK) News Release
Mr. Brad Barnett of Rock Tech Lithium reports
ROCK TECH LITHIUM INC. RECEIVES ADDITIONAL GREAT LAKES GRAPHITE SHARES
Rock Tech Lithium Inc. has provided the following update in accordance with National Instrument 62-103 the early warning rystem, and related takeover bids and insider reporting issues.
Rock Tech advises that is has filed an early warning report in connection with the issuance by Great Lakes Graphite Inc. to Rock Tech of an aggregate of 3,831,737 common shares of Great Lakes. The shares were issued by Great Lakes pursuant to a previously disclosed property option agreement between Rock Tech and Great Lakes. Rock Tech now holds a total of 7,663,474 common shares of Great Lakes, representing 10.4 per cent of Great Lakes' current issued and outstanding share capital (73,714,818 common shares). A copy of the early warning report may be found under Great Lakes' profile on SEDAR.
© 2014 Canjex Publishing Ltd.

[chambers]

Great Lakes hires SRK for Lochaber resource estimate
Great Lakes Graphite Inc (C:GLK)
Shares Issued 73,714,818
Last Close 12/2/2014 $0.06
Wednesday December 03 2014 - News Release
Mr. Paul Gorman reports
GREAT LAKES GRAPHITE ENGAGES SRK CONSULTING TO CARRY OUT MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE ON THE LOCHABER GRAPHITE PROPERTY
Great Lakes Graphite Inc. has provided the following update on activities related to the exploration and development of the Lochaber graphite property.
NI 43-101 Resource Estimate
The Company has engaged SRK Consulting to complete the preparation of an National Instrument ("NI") 43-101-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate for the Lochaber Graphite Property located in southeastern Quebec (the "Resource Estimate"). CEO Paul Gorman said, "Soon after we began discussions regarding a Feasibility Study for the Lochaber project, it was clear that having SRK Consulting complete the work on an NI 43-101-compliant resource estimate on the Lochaber property would facilitate subsequent work on a Feasibility Study. Having SRK's name on our Resource Estimate is a way of demonstrating our ongoing commitment to the highest industry standards."
Preliminary work toward the Resource Estimate including all of the supporting data that have been used in internal studies and scenarios have been made available to SRK Consulting. "We are confident that the completion of a resource estimate on the highly prospective Lochaber Graphite Property will be a major strategic step forward in realizing value from our significant investment in this property", Great Lakes CEO Gorman commented. The company expects the Resource Estimate to be published during the first quarter of 2015.
SRK Consulting is an independent, international consulting practice providing focused advice and solutions to the earth and water resource industries. SRK provides services to mining companies that range from exploration to mine closure. Established in 1974, SRK employs more than 1,500 professionals internationally in over 50 offices on 6 continents
Fieldwork - Drill Program
A field crew and diamond drilling equipment have been mobilized to the Lochaber Graphite Property to carry out a program of 600 m of drilling that will provide additional data for the Resource Estimate and a contemplated Feasibility Study in the near future. The drilling is scheduled to commence this week.
In preparation for this program, road access to the project area has been upgraded. This program is comprised of six holes of 100 m in length that are already spotted on the ground. The holes are in-fill and step-out holes that will supplement the results of the previous drilling on the property which is being used to complete the Resource Estimate.
Mr. Martin Ethier, P.Geo., who is a Member of the Order of Geologists of Quebec and a "Qualified Person" under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release.

[chambers]

Press Release - Great Lakes Graphite
Great Lakes Graphite Tests Confirm High Purity of Graphite at Lochaber Property


November 5, 2014, Toronto: Great Lakes Graphite Inc. -- (TSX-V: GLK) -- ("Great Lakes Graphite" or the "Company") -- is pleased to announce the following update on flotation concentration tests for the Company's Lochaber Graphite property in Quebec, being conducted by Process Research ORTECH ("PRO") at their facilities in Mississauga, Ontario. The tests were completed by PRO on a composite sample of graphite from the Lochaber property, with the objective of developing a flotation concentration flow sheet designed to optimize the preservation of the graphite's crystalline structure and particle sizes, in order to maximize the potential economic value of this high-purity graphite.

PRO has now provided the Company with exceptional flotation concentration optimization results, including:
TABLE 1

These results were obtained via conventional flotation only without chemical treatment, i.e. without the use of strong bases (NaOH - caustic roast technique) or acids (H2SO4/HF - acid leach technique).

Concentrate produced by PRO from the mineral beneficiation process was sent to AGAT Laboratories of Mississauga, Ontario for carbon-as-graphite (Cg) analysis, using a LECO furnace and infrared (IR) detector.

CEO Paul Gorman said "These test results confirm that a high-purity concentrate can be easily produced from the graphite at Lochaber. These purity levels taken together with the flake size distribution we recently reported continue to demonstrate the hiqh quality of the mineralization at Lochaber. A high-quality graphite resource is a prerequisite to targeting the high end of the market with value-added products. We are now moving quickly to complete an NI 43-101-compliant resource estimate which is the final major milestone to complete before commissioning a full Feasibility Study."

Paul Hynek, Director of Technical Services to the Company said, "It is worth noting that we use a modified IR assay method for our graphitic carbon assays. While there are other industry-accepted assay methods that result in the reporting of elevated grades, we are committed to using this method in order to achieve a high level of accuracy. With the method that we incorporate, the sample is pretreated to remove any traces of non-graphitic carbon due to other sources such as organic contaminants and carbonate. It is then heated in a combustion tube to 1350°C in a flowing stream of oxygen where the remaining graphitic carbon is oxidized to form CO2. The gas stream then passes through an IR detection cell tuned to respond to CO2. Once the total CO2 is quantified, the percentage of Cg is calculated.

Historically, and even recently, graphitic carbon was measured using varying forms of an LOI (Loss on Ignition) test where the ore sample was heated to a high enough temperature, usually above 1000°C, to burn off all the carbon and the weight loss was reported as graphite. Of course this was incorrect as chemically combined water, carbonates, organic debris, etc. were all part of this weight loss. This method thus evolved into a two stage LOI, where organic carbon was burned off, chemically combined water and carbonates had a chance to decompose removing those sources of non-graphitic carbon and weight; however, LOI is typically done in air and some carbonates require high temperatures to decompose, in the same range where graphite will burn, so again, there were large sources of error, and typically the error was on the high side. Even the IR method can be misreported if the sample is not pretreated to remove other sources of carbon. Consequently, we have gone to great care to ensure that the labs we use follow a specific protocol, and we have full confidence in the graphitic assays we report."

Mr. Martin Éthier, P.Geo., who is a Member of the Order of Geologists of Québec and a "Qualified Person" under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release.

About Process Research ORTECH (PRO): PRO was created to explore innovative solutions in the Process Technologies area to better serve the needs of Canadian industries as well as international companies. The PRO team collectively has decades of experience delivering pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, electrometallurgy and mineral processing solutions to customers. Recognizing the need for sustainable development for the mining, metallurgical, recycling and chemical industries industries, PRO offers its clients process technologies for economic advantage, environmental stewardship and societal care.

About Great Lakes Graphite: Great Lakes Graphite Inc. is an industrial minerals company with the mandate to bring graphite projects to production through the acquisition and development of high quality graphite flake properties. Graphite has moved to the forefront of the Industrial Mineral World as a Critical Mineral required for industrial use and as a major component in the development of new technologies particularly with the advancement of battery storage, mobile battery systems and alternative energy infrastructure.

As there are currently no graphite mines producing in North America, Great Lakes Graphite has the ability to become one of the first producers to supply a growing regional customer base that requires high quality natural graphite, where pricing and demand continue to rise.

The Company, through strategic acquisitions and capable management will become a leader in the industrial minerals marketplace. The Company’s flagship graphite property is located in Lochaber Township of southwestern Québec. The Company has also entered into option and joint venture agreements with Eloro Resources Inc.(TSXV:ELO) on the Summit-Gaber Cobalt property located in the La Grande Greenstone Belt in the Baie James region of Québec. Further information regarding Great Lakes can be found on the Company’s website at: www.GreatLakesGraphite.com.

Great Lakes Graphite trades with symbol GLK on the TSX Venture Exchange and currently has 60,964,819 shares outstanding (89,158,655 fully diluted).

[chambers]

Great Lakes (V.GLK) lays out strategy for success in graphite space
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/opinion/interviews/2014/10/29/great-lakes-v-glk-lays-out-strategy-for-success-graphite-space#AMkvoexbrwEZ6YIw.99
The following is a Stockhouse Q&A interview with Great Lakes Graphite Inc. (TSX: V.GLK, Stock Forum) Chief Marketing Officer Paul Ferguson.

Why should people think about investing in Great Lakes Graphite right now?

For investors, the rule is to buy low. That means seeking out high quality companies during periods when the market has discounted everything, right across the board. Some companies have not just survived but have also taken advantage of opportunities that appear during such times. That’s one reason investors should be considering Great Lakes Graphite.

In addition, the company is completing work on a NI 43-101 resource estimate. Assuming we are able to demonstrate a respectable resource, the company will earn the right to move up a category on the valuation scale. This is a particularly important milestone for the company that we expect to complete shortly.

What sets you apart from other junior companies in the graphite space?

Well for one thing we don’t think of ourselves as a junior. While we technically fit the description, it isn’t how we see ourselves or where we are driving this company which is why we refer to ourselves instead as an industrial minerals company. Our focus is on the market, on customers, on preparing to meet the demand for value-added graphite products.

Most resource juniors are focused on their property, and while that is a high priority for us, it is not an exclusive focus. We are customer centric and seeking the shortest path to get into the market.

Tests have shown that graphite samples from your Lochaber project in southwestern Quebec can be used to produce a graphite concentrate containing more than 57% large flakes. Can you outline what that means to a layman investor and how that might take you forward in achieving the goals that you have set for the company?

There was an article in Industrial Minerals recently that discussed the importance of flake size. Stephen Riddle of Asbury Carbons was quoted in that article as saying that his ideal deposit has purity of 94% and as high a percentage of large flake as possible. And the reason for that is quite simple, that is the type of natural graphite that you need to have to produce the high value graphite products. A high grade, high quality, at-surface natural graphite project is a critical element in our plan and enables us to plan for a small footprint, low CAPEX, environmentally sustainable operation.

“My ideal project is a graphite mine that would produce at a 94-96% purity level. It would have as much medium (plus-80 mesh) and large flake (plus-50 mesh) as possible. The lower the percentage of fine flake (minus-80 mesh), the better, since it is the most abundant material in the market and thus has the lowest selling price….”

Stephen Riddle, Asbury Carbons CEO, in The Mining Report



Generally speaking, who do you think your customers will be?

For the most part, our customers already exist as prospects in the marketing database we've built in Salesforce. Over the past several years we have had lots of conversations with lots of companies who use graphite, so we have a very good idea of who we will be ringing when the time comes to start dialing.

Also, the name Great Lakes Graphite was intentionally chosen to convey a regional focus.

We certainly have a global outlook, but we think we will be most successful in the industrial minerals space by focusing on domestic markets with consistent, high quality products and excellent customer service.

Who are the key players on your management team? What do they bring to the table in terms of their ability to help you achieve your goals?

Great Lakes Graphite strongly believes that an experienced management team is the key to successfully implementing our business plan. We engaged people that have experience in business, mineral beneficiation, mineral processing, plant design and a proven ability to get the job done. We also looked for experience in the graphite space. Our team has over 150 years of experience in all areas of mining, with much of it in graphite. From our CEO to our operations people, we have all the criteria for a successful execution of our plan in place.

What are the near term milestones that investors should look for in the next 12 months?

The next milestone is the results from purity testing of the bulk sample we collected recently. Based on the results of earlier work as well as some of the testing we have done, we anticipate that the results will confirm that the graphite from Lochaber has the characteristics associated with the higher value products.

The milestone after that is a major one, it’s the NI 43-101 resource estimate on Lochaber.

Having a resource will literally put the company into a different category.

Immediately after the estimate is published, assuming it is satisfactory, the company will proceed immediately to commission a full feasibility study. That effort will require significant time and attention but in parallel to that we will be initiating activities with potential customers, including a sampling program. In order to accomplish our goals on our timeline it is important to get out into the market and begin engaging with potential customers as soon as possible.

[chambers]

Great Lakes Graphite selected for Schulich MBA project
Ticker Symbol: C:GLK
Great Lakes Graphite selected for Schulich MBA project
Great Lakes Graphite Inc (C:GLK)
Shares Issued 60,964,819
Last Close 10/21/2014 $0.08
Wednesday October 22 2014 - News Release
Mr. Paul Gorman reports
GREAT LAKES GRAPHITE PARTNERS WITH SCHULICH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ON STRATEGY
Great Lakes Graphite Inc. has been selected out of many candidates by a team of MBA students from the Schulich School of Business at York University to participate in a project to be conducted over the next two months. The project provides an opportunity for the Schulich team to provide consulting services in a real-world environment. Chief executive officer Paul Gorman said: "The timing of this initiative is excellent given the company's current focus on business strategy. We greatly look forward to working closely with the Schulich team on this project."
The team consists of four MBA students with diverse educational and professional backgrounds who will serve as consultants to the company to conduct a comprehensive strategic analysis and to provide recommendations focused on strategies for growing revenues, profit, or both. Daniel Zaitz, who represented the Schulich team during the selection process, said: "It is a great honour to have Great Lakes Graphite on board with this project. I am confident that the partnership will be a great learning experience for my group and will also add significant value to Great Lakes' business."
© 2014 Canjex Publishing Ltd.

[pointofreturn]

The TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation pertaining to a further amendment to an existing option agreement originally dated Sept. 29, 2010, between Great Lakes Graphite Inc., formerly Shield Gold Inc., and Eloro Resources Ltd., the parties have agreed to further extend, by one year, the payment and exploration expenditure schedules pertaining to certain mineral claims (the La Grande Nord property) in return for a one-time payment of 200,000 common shares to the vendor.
For further details, please refer to the company's news release dated Oct. 8, 2014.
© 2014 Canjex Publishing Ltd.

[pointofreturn]

Great Lakes Graphite Announces La Grande Nord Amendment
V.GLK, GLKIF | 1 day ago
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 8, 2014) - Great Lakes Graphite Inc. (TSXV: GLK) ("Great Lakes" or the "Company") announces that the existing Agreement between Great Lakes and Eloro Resources Ltd. (TSXV: ELO) ("Eloro") with regard to La Grande Nord Property (the Summit-Gaber property) located in the Baie James region of Québec has been amended. This amendment allows Great Lakes to extend, by one year, the dates for work commitments and remaining payments under the terms of the original agreement and its first amendment. As consideration for the extensions granted by Eloro, Great Lakes has agreed to issue an additional 200,000 common shares to Eloro, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.

La Grande Nord Property has historically been the focus of base and precious-metal exploration; however, the presence of mineralization characteristic of cobalt-nickel-silver ("Cobalt-style") deposits has also been noted. The potential for cobalt mineralization is of great exploration interest to the Company.

John M. Siriunas, P.Eng, VP of Exploration for the Company and a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release.

About Great Lakes Graphite: Great Lakes Graphite Inc. is an industrial minerals company with the mandate to bring graphite projects to production through the acquisition and development of high quality natural graphite properties.

Graphite has moved to the forefront of the Industrial Mineral World as a Critical Mineral required for industrial use and as a major component in the development of new technologies particularly with the advancement of battery storage, mobile battery systems and alternative energy infrastructure.

As there are currently no graphite mines producing in North America, Great Lakes Graphite has the ability to become one of the first producers to supply a growing regional customer base that requires high purity graphite, where pricing and demand continue to rise.

The Company, through strategic acquisitions and capable management will become a leader in the industrial minerals marketplace. The Company's flagship graphite property is located in Lochaber Township of southwestern Québec. The Company has also entered into option and joint venture agreements with Eloro Resources Inc. (TSXV: ELO) on the Summit-Gaber Cobalt property located in the La Grande Greenstone Belt in the Baie James region of Québec. Further information regarding Great Lakes can be found on the Company's website at: www.GreatLakesGraphite.com.

Great Lakes Graphite trades with symbol GLK on the TSX Venture Exchange and post-transaction will have 60,964,819 shares outstanding (89,158,655 fully diluted).

[pointofreturn]

Whether you realize it or not, graphite is all around you. Right now it's mostly consumed for refractories, batteries, steelmaking, expanded graphite, brake linings, foundry facings and lubricants. But things are changing and incremental demand is forecast to increase substantially due to emerging green initiatives and clean technologies. Graphite is quickly becoming a necessary material in a plethora of high-tech applications, and graphene (which comes from the base material of graphite) has the potential to "change the world."

Many investors are still trying to understand graphite and its market, which is what I'm setting out to help accomplish in this article. I'll explain what graphite is, different types and deposit geology, current and future uses, supply and demand trends, pricing, a brief market comparison, and most importantly, my six key criteria for what you need to know to be an informed investor in the graphite sector. I'll also briefly discuss the graphite companies that I currently own and why, as well as conclude demonstrating some impressive performance metrics in the sector as of late.

[pointofreturn]

Why The Graphite Sector Is Heating Up, How To Evaluate Opportunities, And What I Own

Summary

During the graphite boom in 2012, investors experienced a huge run-up in graphite stocks, only to be let down as their performance drastically outpaced their fundamentals.
There is now an opportunity for contrarian investors to re-evaluate the sector given recent events: the stabilization of prices; projects starting-up or near production; and off-take agreements being signed.
Blue-sky potential remains enormous from the incremental demand that will be created by ‘technology grade graphite’ to be used in emerging green initiatives and clean technology.
Supply and demand trends are extremely encouraging, spurred largely by resource nationalism, industry consolidation, and Tesla's gigafactory which alone is supposed to at least double worldwide graphite demand by 2020.
The NIA graphite explorers index is up ~70% YTD, posting most of those gains quietly this summer, and primarily by advanced projects which are still a ways off their all-time.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2504085-why-the-graphite-sector-is-heating-up-how-to-evaluate-opportunities-and-what-i-own

[pointofreturn]

Current Uses and Future Growth Applications

Graphite has been referred to as the material used in every industry yet in small enough quantities that no one talks about it. The majority of the world's graphite is used in traditional applications such as refractories, steel-making, foundry moldings, auto parts, and lubricants. Minor uses such as batteries, pencils, electronics, and numerous other products account for the remaining graphite consumed each year.

Future demand growth is anticipated to be driven by 'technology grade graphite', to be used in emerging green initiatives and clean technology. Including applications in fuel cells, lithium-ion and vanadium redox batteries, energy storage, solar power, water purification, and pebble-bed nuclear reactors. Not to mention graphene, coequally dubbed the 'miracle material', a one atom thick layer of carbon atoms which some researchers claim "it's the most important substance to be created since the first synthetic plastic more than 100 years ago."

[vinnybotz]

Rapido GLK/GLKIF

[pointofreturn]

Tesla ‘gigafactory’ will require 8 new graphite mines

http://business.financialpost.com/2014/09/16/tesla-gigafactory-

will-require-8-new-graphite-mines/Special to Financial Post September 16, 2014 9:13 AM ET

More from Special to Financial Post
Sr. VP John Carter runs a series of tests to identify the most efficient way to process the Lochaber ore while also achieving the highest recoveries.
HandoutSr. VP John Carter runs a series of tests to identify the most efficient way to process the Lochaber ore while also achieving the highest recoveries.
Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Email Comments More
Great Lakes Graphite is fast tracked to production

Electric car producer Tesla Motors (TSLA-NASDAQ) is planning to build a $6-billion lithium-ion battery ‘Gigafactory’ in 2017, doubling the 2013 global output of lithium ion batteries and creating a massive shortage of graphite – unless new mines come on line.

Great Lakes Graphite (TSX.V:GLK) is a strong candidate to fill some of that North American demand. GLK’s 100%-owned Lochaber project in Quebec is a large flake graphite project with a near-surface resource located close to infrastructure and end user markets.

“We spent the last seven years assessing opportunities in the graphite space,” stated GLK CEO Paul Gorman in an exclusive interview with Financial Post, “We wanted a high grade graphite project that had already been drilled and that had historic reserves which needed to be upgraded to modern geological standards. The Lochaber graphite property in Quebec checked all the right boxes.”

Gorman stresses that he intends to be one of the first producers of flake graphite in North America. Great Lakes will achieve this by opening a quarry style graphite operation in a smaller footprint, that offers an easier permitting process and much lower initial capital requirements.

“We are focused on the development of Lochaber” stated Gorman, “but at the same time we are building relationships with North American end users to supply graphite from our Lochaber project. We are not just a junior explorer, we are an industrial minerals company. Graphite demand in North America is surging and there is a race on to see who will fill it. It is our intention to be one of those companies.”

The former owner of the Lochaber project spent $2 million drilling it and doing particle distribution work, so Great Lakes Graphite inherited a lot of very useful data.

“We knew the size of the historic reserve,” confirms Gorman, “Our focus is to bring it to 43-101 standards and update the resource calculation based on new modelling and developmental work.”

On August 27, 2014 – Great Lakes Graphite announced that it has initiated a program to fast track the Lochaber Graphite Property towards production. The first phase of this program includes field-work, laboratory work, a new 43-101-compliant resource estimate and the securing of offtake agreements that will be the key to obtaining production financing. Gorman expects the production decision to be made by Q4, 2015.

Handout
HandoutSamples collected recently appear consistent with the high quality, large flake natural graphite for which the area is known and also indicate the potential for lump graphite.
“The beauty of industrial minerals is that we can scale the output based on customer requirements,” stated Gorman, “We’re going to have all of the orders from the customers in place before we go to the bank and say: ‘this is how much we need’. The construction cost for this graphite mine is going to be very modest – around $35 million dollars – give or take.”

GLK’s Senior VP John Carter, in his former role as President of MinPro, built mills in 26 different countries around the world. Carter’s unique knowledge and experience is another way the Company is mitigating risk. By leveraging a wealth of prior experience, GLK is exploiting every advantage to insure their operations will produce graphite products to the exacting requirements specified by customers.

“On the marketing side, we are doing a top-down approach,” stated Gorman, “Getting graphite samples into the hands of end users and having them analyse it and reverse-engineer what they need from us.”

In 2007 Gorman and Carter spent several months talking and visiting with potential customers along the Eastern Seaboard, to Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh – meeting with procurement managers from different carbon companies. It was an eye opening trip. They discovered that the carbon end users are actively looking for new suppliers, since at that time there was only one graphite producer in North America and the pricing and supply from the Chinese trading houses to this day remains unreliable.

“We now have about 640 customers in our marketing database,” stated Gorman, “Refractory companies, battery companies, solar panel companies and new technology companies.”

GLK’s field-crew partners recently concluded the initial phase of fieldwork at Lochaber, which involved verifying the location of each of the 100+ drill holes drilled by the previous operators and collecting a mini bulk sample. The field team also secured the drill core from the 7,000 metre program that was conducted in 2012.

“Particle size distribution and flake analysis is a big focus for us,” stated Gorman, “How much jumbo flake, large flake and smaller stuff do we have? With this data, we can align ourselves with the right customers.”

Handout
HandoutAt Great Lakes Graphite “from mine to market” means bringing an understanding of customer requirements to all aspects of building the business.
Lochaber is GLK’s flagship project and is intended to be the first into production for the Company. But Gorman plans to develop four or five more quarry-style projects, which can be duplicated and scaled from the Lochaber model.

“North American factories that are buying graphite are sourcing it mostly from China,” explains Gorman, “but across the industry, inventory levels are falling. The Chinese have consolidated a many of their small graphite operations, largely because they are doing a national audit, trying to determine how much graphite they have left. There is already an export tariff on domestic graphite leaving China. That tariff could go up, or they could choke off graphite exports all together.”

With its lower cost profile relative to synthetic graphite, Tesla’s Gigafactory is going to require new streams of natural flake graphite.

With the advancement of battery storage, mobile battery systems and alternative energy infrastructure, it is estimated that 20 new graphite mines will be required to keep up with demand by the year 2020.

Great Lakes is working with its partners to develop proprietary technology to micronize, shape and purify flake graphite to 99% for emerging technological applications. GLK plans to put Lochaber into production by Q2 2017. Currently, GLK intends to purify up to 40% of Lochaber’s gross yield. The specialized products created through the purification process command prices of up to $7200/tonne.

GLK is currently trading at $0.10 with a market cap of $6-million.

This story was provided by Market One Media for commercial purposes. Postmedia had no involvement in the creation of this content.


http://www.greatlakesgraphite.com/

[tsl444]

Nice addition.

Great Lakes Graphite Strengthens Board With Industry Expert Laura Mottola

[tsl444]

Good to see some juniors joining forces for a change...

Valterra and Great Lakes Graphite Form Strategic Alliance on Bobcaygeon Graphite Project

[tsl444]

News: Great Lakes Graphite Acquires Lochaber Graphite Deposit

full news release

[tsl444]

hello world