Newsletter Issue March 2019Newsletter Issue March 2019 Graphite The underrated black mineral with a great future in the energy revolution Berkwood Resources Ltd. focuses on a high-grade flake engraphite project in Quebec, Canada Dear investors, dear friends, It was the German mineralogist Abraham Gottlob Werner who first chose the name for a crystalline, black mineral in 1789, which had been well known to mankind since the Stone Age, not least because of its characteristic, markings on certain Objects to leave: Graphite. The ancient Greek verb graphein means writing or drawing. Almost all pencil mines used from the late Middle Ages to the 19th century contained pure, natural graphite. Graphite is one of the most stable and natural forms of carbon. The individual atoms are arranged in a hexagonal crystal system. Under air closure, extremely high pressure and about 1500 degrees Celsius graphite turns into diamond. Today, natural graphite is used, among other things, for the production of heat-resistant materials as well as as a solid lubricant. So far, I believe that the increasing importance of high-quality graphite in current battery technologies in the 21st century has been underestimated. There are numerous graphite deposits of varying quality around the world. This edition focuses exclusively on high-grade, macrocrystalline flake engraphite. The significantly cheaper, microcrystalline graphite is traded on the world market in powder form and it is existential for the production of fireproof steel. But we also find it, for example, with brake pads for the car and in today's pencil mines. In addition, there is also synthetic graphite, which is produced by taking carbon-containing materials (e.g. from coal, petroleum). Due to the expected boom in demand for batteries for electric vehicles, the availability of high-quality flake graphite is becoming more and more important. With today's lithium-ion batteries, this can practically not be replaced for the production of the anode! The initially flat graphite flakes are brought into a spherical form in a chemical process. The optimised surface structure improves conductivity and the graphite can eventually be used as an ideal anode material. Some analysts estimate that current production of flake graphite would have to double once electric vehicle accounts for just 5% of the global vehicle market. Graphite is offered at different prices on the world market and in this country, depending on the quality. In a multi-stage production process, the value of the graphite is constantly increasing. However, the graphite volume decreases significantly up to the finished end product. About 60-70% of the original raw material is lost in the entire production process. Currently, the uncoated, spherical graphite is sold for about US $3,000-4,000 per tonne. In comparison, the ball graph, obtained from high grade concentrate, already refined and specially coated, is traded from US $4,500, and in some cases as much as US $15,000 per tonne, depending on the quality. "Germany is to become a leading location for battery cell manufacturing." Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, December 2018 Germany's economy ministry announced extensive measures in November 2018 to establish corporate consortia from chemical companies and automakers with targeted government subsidies amounting to insim. EUR 1 billion. The goal is to set up giga watt battery cell production in Germany. Further funding will go to a national research facility specialising in the development of next-generation solid-state accumulators. In fact, the Federal Government has set itself the target of allocated around one third of the world's battery production capacity in Germany and Europe by 2030! European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic believes that demand for rechargeable batteries in the EU from 2025 could already reach an annual volume of 250 billion euros.