DNI Metals Inc. (DMNKF)

[Luke_McCain]

PR about DNI's strategic partner Great Lakes Graphite

http://scr.zacks.com/News/Press-Releases/Press-Release-Details/2017/Great-Lakes-Graphite-GLKV-Developing-Plan-to-Ramp-Up-High-Value-Capacity/default.aspx

A few highlights:

• Great Lakes Graphite is positioned to participate and benefit from the increasing demand for graphite material.

• Management is pursuing a fast-track approach into the graphite market with a direct sales effort in order to secure long-term supply contracts.

• Recently, management has indicated the development of a plan with its partner Ashland Advanced Materials to pursue initiatives to prepare for a ramp up in manufacturing capacity of high-value graphite products, particularly to the battery market.

In the meantime, the company is sourcing graphite through an off-take agreement with DNI Metals Inc. and utilizing Shamokin Carbons to process the procured supply into micronized synthetic and micronized natural flake graphite products. In addition the company is in a technology partnership with Process Research ORTECH (PRO of Mississauga, Ontario) to develop a proprietary graphite purification process with the goal of achieving 99.9%-purity lithium ion battery grade graphite products.

On May 26, 2017, Great Lakes Graphite announced the receipt of two repeat purchase orders from an overseas manufacturer of stationary battery systems. Previously the customer had purchased a small quantity of material for initial qualification testing. Now, one of the new purchase orders is for 50 kilograms of of high-purity micronized flake graphite material for pre-production test manufacturing of an industrial battery unit. The second purchase order is composed of five different 5-kilogram samples of high-purity micronized synthetic and natural flake graphite ordered for evaluation. The purchase orders were fulfilled in early June. Management anticipates a supply agreement following the completion of pre-production testing.

Great Lakes Graphite is currently engaged in product qualifications with at least eight prospective battery and energy storage customers. The battery chemistries range from traditional lead-acid batteries and flow batteries for stationary energy storage applications to lithium-ion batteries. In addition, the company has backlogged requests for Spherical Purified Graphite (SPG) and Coated Spherical Purified Graphite (CSPG) from existing battery manufacturers (lithium-ion, lead-acid and redox flow batteries).

According to Navigant Research, the international stationary battery market is expected to be a US$5.9 billion market by 2020. Management’s strategy includes targeting the battery supply chain where battery-grade CSPG currently sells for US$10,000-12,000 per ton and which Benchmark Minerals Intelligence projects the lithium-ion battery anode market to grow from 130,000 tons annually to 230,000 tons by 2020.

Great Lakes Graphite and partner Ashland Advanced Materials are pursuing initiatives to prepare for a large-scale ramp up in manufacturing capacity of high-value graphite products. The project is estimated to cost approximately US$28 million and would require 24 months to complete. Great Lakes Graphite is in advanced discussions for financing options, specifically the issuance of both debt and equity.