OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov. 10, 2014) - Northern Graphite Corporation (TSX VENTURE:NGC)(OTCQX:NGPHF) announces that in partnership with Coulometrics LLC, it has opened a lithium ion battery ("LiB") research and testing facility. The facility will focus on developing and testing improved natural graphite based anode materials for LiBs with the goal of improving battery performance, reducing costs and reducing the environmental impact of anode manufacturing. The facility will be available on normal commercial terms to any company, including Northern's competitors, provided that all results are made publicly available and shared with the industry.
Gregory Bowes, CEO commented that: "We are happy to share our experience and our proprietary purification and coating technologies with our peers in order to increase transparency, reduce disinformation, and ultimately, make better and lower cost batteries." He added that: "We are very comfortable that our deposit has the highest quality graphite and the highest yield of battery grade material but more than one new mine will be required to supply the electric vehicle market under even modest, conservative growth projections."
Services provided by the facility will include characterization of natural graphite including SEM and PIXIE impurity analysis, micronization and spheronization, purification, coating, and coin and 18650 cell testing. It will be based at the Coulometrics facilities in Tennessee and will be independently managed by Dr. Edward R. Buiel Ph.D. Dr. Ulrich von Sacken Ph.D. has been retained to consult on the design of test cells and test protocols.
Dr. Buiel received his Ph.D. from Dalhousie University in 1998 for the study of carbon anode materials for LiBs. He spent seven years developing carbon materials for LiBs with MeadWestvaco and five years as Chief Technology Officer of Axion Power International. Dr. Buiel founded Coulometrics LLC in 2008 to provide a variety of services and technologies related to advanced energy storage. These include materials/electrolyte development, device design, application design and simulation, independent testing and validation, manufacturing and scale-up planning and implementation, process quality control and auditing, and energy storage manufacturing best practices. Recently Coulometrics installed a coating/calendar/slitting system and now has complete 18650 cell assembly and testing capabilities. Through a National Science Foundation (USA) grant, Coulometrics has developed environmentally friendly coating technologies to reduce surface area and improve the first cycle efficiency of carbon materials. This will reduce their cost and improve the performance, temperature stability, and life of LiBs.
Dr. von Sacken received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Waterloo in 1985. He was Vice President of Technology with BAK Battery Canada for six years. Prior to that he spent 20 years with E-One Moli Energy, most recently as General Manager of Research and Development. He has more than 25 years of experience in the development, design and manufacture of lithium ion cells, has authored numerous papers, and is co-inventor on more than a dozen granted patents.
Northern Graphite Corporation
Northern Graphite's Bissett Creek project, located in eastern Canada, provides the Company with a natural competitive advantage in the battery technology field. Bissett Creek has the highest yield of battery grade material in the industry and its pristine, highly ordered crystal structure is easier to purify and has the potential to improve battery performance. The Company is leveraging these advantages with proprietary technologies to make better and lower cost anode materials and to replace the damaging environmental practices currently used in their manufacture.
Bissett Creek is the most advanced new graphite project with a bankable Feasibility Study and its major environmental permit, and it also has the best location/infrastructure, the lowest capital cost and the highest operating margin. Because of Chinese supply problems and the continued rapid growth in new uses such as LiBs, new western sources of graphite supply are required.
Additional information on Northern can be found at www.sedar.com and www.northerngraphite.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of words such as "could", "potential", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "likely", "will" or other similar words or phrases. These statements are only current predictions and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.