RE:RE:Tesla Secures Lithium Supply for factoryThere has been much speculation among graphite Investors and graphite junior miners on who that might be. In a recent Corporate update, Greg Bowes of Northern Graphite says a potential catalyst would be a strategic partner/off take agreement or a decision in the Tesla "beauty contest". Bowes goes on to say "What Tesla wants is no secret. Low cost, near term supply, preferably North American, and mining and processing with a small environmental footprint. Tesla is all in with a very aggressive business plan and represents one catalyst that could stimulate the development of a new graphite mine in the very short term. What Tesla decides remains to be seen but Northern ticks all the boxes in terms of their requirements and might be the only graphite company that does." Bowes calls it a Beauty contest but I think it might be one that is already won? Northern Graphite (NGPHF) News out over the summer makes this a very compelling buy. Jeff Dahn is recognized as one of the pioneering developers of the lithium-ion battery that is now used worldwide in laptop computers and cell-phones. Dahn's recent work has concentrated on the application of Combinatorial Materials Science methods to battery and fuel cell materials problems. He is the author of over 500 refereed journal papers and co-inventor of 58 inventions with patents issued or filed. Jeff Dahn was born in Bridgeport, Conn. in 1957 and emigrated with his family to Nova Scotia, Canada in 1970. He obtained his B.Sc. in Physics from Dalhousie University (1978) and his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in 1982. Dahn then worked at the National Research Council of Canada (82-85) and at Moli Energy Limited (85-90) before taking up a faculty position in the Physics Department at Simon Fraser University in 1990. He returned to Dalhousie University in 1996. Jeff Dahn? So what is the significance? Lets put a few pieces together In May, NGC announced they were providing the first commercial samples of its coated spherical graphite to potential customers. SPG is the anode material used in lithium-ion batteries and is manufactured from flake graphite concentrate produced by graphite mines. Coated SPG sells for $10,000 per tonne to $20,000 per tonne compared with $1,100 per tonne for large flake graphite. Northern has manufactured SPG from a representative sample of its mine concentrate and purified and coated it using the company's proprietary technologies. LIB cell testing indicates that Northern's SPG has a higher total capacity and better first-cycle efficiency than commercial samples. The reversible capacity is 365 milliamp-hours per gram, which is very close to the theoretical maximum of 372 milliamp-hours per gram, and the first-cycle efficiency is 92 per cent to 94 per cent. Dr. Edward Buiel, founder of Coulometrics LLC and Northern's chief technology officer, stated that: "Large flake graphite from the Bissett Creek deposit has a uniquely pristine crystal structure. The low degree of disorder creates very high reversible capacity without the need for thermal processing, and the material can be easily purified without acid washing, both of which result in a much smaller environmental footprint than competing products." Dr. Ed Buiel got his PhD ("Development of Carbon Anode Materials for Lithium Ion Battery Applications") under Jeff Dahn of Dalhousie University and has co-authored patents with Dahn. Buiel has many patents, publications and conference publications of his own. He is an expert and a colleague of Dahn. Now where it gets very interesting, about 6 weeks ago Tesla announced that they have entered into an exclusive agreement with Dr. Jeff Dahn, a Li-ion battery researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After his current work ends Dahn will be exclusive to Tesla for 5 years https://ecomento.com/2015/06/22/tesla-links-up-with-battery-scientist-jeff-dahn/ If you care here is a video of one of Dahn's lectures, kind of long over an hour and boring unless you have an interest in batteries https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9qi03QawZEk According to the Tesla web site they are beginning construction of the battery gigafactory with planned production for 2017. Before too long Tesla will have to negotiate an off take agreement with somebody to source graphite. https://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/gigafactory.pdf We know NGC has supplied samples to potential customers so no doubt one of them is Tesla. We have Buiel at NGC as there Chief Technology Officer and now his colleague Dahn is at Tesla. A person can easily join the dots here and conclude that the odds have to be high that NGC will be supplying graphite to Tesla. Tesla just announced a $500 million stock offering and would have no trouble financing mine construction at NGC's Bisset Creek. I think an announcement will have to be made soon so Bisset Creek can be built in time to provide graphite to Tesla. News of a deal between Tesla and NGC would no doubt send NGC stock soaring (click to enlarge) Northern Graphite Chart About all I can say on the chart, is the correction of the last few months in the mining sector make this look cheap https://www.northerngraphite.com Disclosure: I am/we are long NGPHF. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Themes: long-ideas Stocks: TSLA Read more at https://www.stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/v.ngc/northern-graphite-corporation#8IUXGgvsqTeAPVp9.99