Quick email response from Ann-Marie Pamplin Hello --------
Thank you for your email. I would be happy to provide you with further information regarding our progress. You are welcome to share my reply with whomever you wish, as I would respond to any other inquiry in the same manner.
With regard to your first, unnumbered point, I must respectfully disagree. Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) absolutely do prevent management from discussing the specifics of what Alabama Graphite Corp. is doing with the entity we have entered into the agreement with. That is actually what these agreements are designed to do. We disclose what we are able to disclose to the market as a whole per regulations and in a timely manner.
1. AGC is most certainly working toward obtaining offtake agreements. Note that a typical offtake agreement will take approximately 1-2 years to finalize/execute. Note also that despite some dubious claims made by graphite development companies, no one in the graphite development space has entered into any sort of ‘real’ or binding agreement with a battery manufacturer currently. As such, we are in uncharted waters as to the exact amount of time it will take for us to achieve such an agreement. I can assure you that no battery manufacturing company would (ever) enter into any sort of binding agreement at an agreed upon price for a specific period of time, without going through a significant due diligence/material qualification process, which includes rigorous testing of multiple, multi-kilogram batches of battery-ready material. This will be time consuming, but we are engaged in the process with multiple entities right now (both US DoD and non-DoD entities). I cannot give you an exact time for how close we are to an agreement, nor do I wish to over promise and under deliver by estimating. What I can say is that we are making progress and very pleased with the Company’s potential opportunities.
2. We will of course be doing a Feasibility Study for the Coosa Graphite Project; however, there seems to be an undue amount of emphasis being placed on this milestone. Alabama Graphite Corp. is a technology company, not a mining company. Of course, there is a mining component to the company, but the preponderance of the Company’s value is in its technologies and abilities to produce battery-ready graphite products. I believe that the assumption that the only possible way to advance the company is by initiating the Feasibility Study comes from a specific group of investors who are focused on the mining component of the company and who do not understand the technology side or its value. I would like to stress that the potential end users interested in battery-ready, Coated Spherical Purified Graphite or ‘CSPG’ (our core product) and/or our Delaminated Expanded Graphite or ‘DEXDG’ conductivity enhancement materials, are far more interested in the development work that is occurring on the battery side than they are in the mining component. That is one of the reasons why we announced that before conducting our Feasibility Study, we would first create a considerable stockpile (more than 150 kilograms) of fully characterized (electrochemically tested) battery-ready materials (CSPG and its byproduct Purified Micronized Graphite or ‘PMG’; note, we will also be producing DEXDG conductivity enhancement diluent from the PMG feedstock) that will greatly increase our efficiency and speed at sending out additional sample requests to existing engaged potential end users and, of course, to ensure we have material on hand to convey samples to new potential end users. Again, and to be clear, we intend to complete a Feasibility Study, although we do not believe that one is required to secure an offtake agreement. I cannot comment about how the financing is progressing (until such time as there is a material development to disclose to the market), but I can say that we are looking into a variety of options and will announce any definitive developments to the market in a timely manner.
3. Categorizing our battery-development as “tests” or “experiments” is completely inaccurate and demonstrates the lack of understanding of the technology aspect of AGC’s business strategy. This is worrisome as the battery aspect is what (completely) distinguishes AGC from its peers and is AGC’s primary competitive advantage and point of differentiation from its peers. It is critical to compile testing data on our future products so that we can demonstrate that our process works and that our material is amenable to the various secondary (and primary) battery applications in which they will potentially be used. Potential end users are very interested in and require this information. Every news release we disseminate has significant relevance and value, and helps to move us closer to our end goal of production. I will grant that these releases are often highly technical and a bit difficult to understand for the lay person. Consequently, I would encourage investors to focus on reading the management quotes for more simplified information. Additionally, I would recommend the following interview with Ellis Martin and Executive Vice President, Tyler Dinwoodie for a comprehensive overview of our business strategy (also, from late last year, please refer to Mr. Dinwoodie’s interview with the Financial Post. Remember, there are numerous graphite development companies with completed feasibility studies that have been waiting around to finance their projects for years — to no avail — with significantly lower market capitalization and share performance compared to Alabama Graphite Corp. These peers with completed Feasibility Studies — in some cases, completed FS technical reports were filed years ago — cannot secure (any) CAPEX financing, nor can they execute any binding end-user agreements. With the exception of one ASX-listed graphite development company with its project in Mozambique, no one else in the space is moving forward in a meaningful way. Don Baxter believed that in a different strategy with a (legitimate) battery focus – and if one is a long-term investor with AGC, presumably, one would understand that vision. Again, we are a technology company with the added benefit of US-sourced security of supply. We are not a promotional stock play. No end users wants or needs (conventional) graphite concentrate for traditional applications. That market is currently in oversupply with depressed pricing (hence the stagnating feasibility studies from other concentrate focused companies). Battery graphite is the only high-growth demand sector in the space… and that requires specialty, secondary-processed battery-ready graphite. In short, investors should expect to see more news released to the market about our battery-related test work – and they should be happy to see work progressing on that end, as we firmly believe batteries are where the value lies for AGC.
Take care and hope you have a pleasant weekend,-------
Kind regards,
Ann