Saint Jean Carbon Inc. (TSX-V: SJL) (US Listing: TORVF) (Frankfurt: WNFN) is considered to be among one of the most advanced technology companies, if not the most advanced, in North America when it comes to graphene innovation. Importantly for shareholders is the near-term catalyst potential for share price appreciation, as
the Company are forerunners to obtaining the largest offtake agreement for mass-produced spherical carbon coated graphite (SCCG) for the largest lithium-ion battery manufacturers (electric car/green energy storage). SJL.V has the materials, the people, the technology and knowhow to be a top-beneficiary in this multi-billion dollar industry. SJL.V's current market cap of C$5.8 million (trading at C$0.04/share) is minuscule compared to its potential, the value of the spherical carbon coated graphite patent alone has serious potential to result in a multi-billion dollar market cap in a very short time period. As the reality of the accomplishments and potential are understood by the marketplace, we expect shares of SJL.V to rise several multiples higher than its current price.
Saint Jean Carbon is the subject of a Technology MarketWatch Journal review, full copy of report may be viewed at
https://technologymarketwatch.com/sjl.htm online.
Over the last year SJL.V has filed several potentially revolutionary 100%-owned patents for applications of graphene, including
a) the first superconductivity room temperature wire,
b) a proprietary method for production of single layer (one atom thick) natural graphene with no impurities and without heat damage,
c) production of diamagnetic graphene (which means it repels magnetic fields, in so being first in the world to temper/control graphene),
d) a glucose meter that uses magnetic resistance graphene to instantaneously detect micro-changes via saline levels from tear ducts (once in commercial application it is expected to be ideal for instantly alerting diabetics). That is just a sampling of patents, the Company has ~35 other secondary and tertiary patent innovations in the pipeline.
As impressive as those inventions are for the future,
currently ~75% to 85% of the Company's time and efforts are spent on the green energy storage and green energy creation side of its business as those have immediate real-world demand with serious near-term monetization potential.
On the green energy creation side SJL.V has graphene photo cells in the lab yielding 100% light energy flow through efficiency, this holds potential to lead to a new paradigm for solar cells.
On the green energy storage side SJL.V is rapidly advancing toward serious monetization with its first large-scale SCCG prototype mill now under construction for a major electric vehicle manufacturer. Its proprietary SCCG technology has efficiencies that dwarf what others are capable of and has so impressed lithium-ion battery manufacturers that it is expected to translate into an offtake agreement for the Company to supply raw materials, grind, shape, and coat 150,000 tonnes per year of spherical carbon coated graphite for 20 years, generating $350 to $500 million/per year in revenue at capacity.
The Company was formed ~3 years ago to capitalize on the opportunities and advancements in graphene research and the growing enthusiasm for electric vehicles (which rely upon large quantities of specialized graphite for the anodes in lithium-ion batteries). CEO, Paul Ogilvie, is an individual rooted in technology success and also has a history of successfully advancing graphite mining projects to high valuation takeout. SJL.V is first and foremost a technology business, its graphite mining holdings should only be viewed as strategic back-up as the Company's M.O. is to treat raw materials as a commodity that can be sourced globally according to spec to feed end applications of the Company's technology. Everything the company does is geared toward ensuring it will have a part in meaningful final applications. The Company has built relationships at the highest level of research in the world and is on the forefront of innovation that will transform the future.
Graphene was only first isolated ~10 years ago. It is a thin layer of pure carbon, bonded together in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice. It is the thinnest compound known to man (at one atom thick), as well as the lightest. It is also the strongest compound discovered (100-300 times stronger than steel), is the best conductor of heat at room temperature, and also the best conductor of electricity known. Graphene has potential applications across a wide range of industries. Saint Jean is one of the most advanced in terms of production of graphene and in mid-2016 the Company was
requested by the National Research Counsel of Canada to submit samples and help set the national standard for graphene production and quality. To date we are not aware of anyone else managing to meet the call to submit samples.
Intellectual Property Ownership
The patents we see contributing most towards an appreciation of share price value near-term are the two for spherical carbon coated graphite, they are 100% owned by St. Jean Carbon Inc. There are also large number of patents that the Company co-owns 50:50 with universities, these often do not get coverage in press releases. Anything the Company does with Western University, or Waterloo, and others are considered shared 50:50; SJL.V shares in ownership and (eventual) royalties 50:50, however important to note is that SJL.V retains exclusive first right of refusal to use it. On the patents that are 100% SJL.V owned, anything the Company does with the university that is done on an 'engagement basis', which means the Canadian government pays the university for SJL.V, the Company owns the technology and shareholders benefit from the research without the burden of dilution. To date on patents submitted no one has come forth and challenged or said they are doing it too.
Overview of why Saint Jean Caron Inc. (SJL.V) has potential for >100X market cap revaluation potential:
1) Spherical Carbon Coated Graphite - 100% Owned
The lithium-ion batteries for manufacturing plants being built NOW to meet expected demand will require steady and reliable supplies of spherical carbon coated graphite, and no one in the world is able to produce and deliver at sub US$2,000 per tonne except for Saint Jean Carbon Inc via its proprietary patented (pending) technology. The Company is targeting securing an offtake agreement for its technology, and are bound by confidentiality and non disclosure agreements from saying with who, but most people looking at their specifications of material are logically immediately able to take the leap and say its Tesla. Plus
news of SJL.V appointing Dr. Zhongwei Chen PhD, MSChE, BS as Chief Technology Officer is very telling as he is known in the industry as the foremost expert on Li-ion battery technology in the world and consultant to several majors.
The end result, bottom line, should see Saint Jean Carbon Inc. profitably get to companies in the like of Tesla in Nevada and see US$1,950 per tonne spherical coated carbon graphite and make US$600 to US$700 on every tonne.
Saint Jean Carbon has developed an exclusive patented manufacturing system that creates the material; jet-mill/grinding it, then shaping it, and coating it, all in one go, and then applying it directly to the anode that goes into a lithium-ion battery. The Company's mill is a process that will be situated at (or attached to) the battery plant facility of the electric vehicle manufacturer, in say Nevada. The offtake deal will involve SJL.V supplying the raw graphite materials according to spec, either by sub-contract or mining it themselves (if need be as a back-up); the company has well vetted detailed engineering models involving ~120 small high-grade high-purity graphite pits on its own properties. Graphite material that goes into lithium-ion batteries is 99.875% pure, it has no dampness to it, and all the impurities are eliminated from it. SJL.V has developed a system that crushes and grinds its ore, and air classifies it through a windowing system, further grinds it, and loads it to railcar for delivery to its processing mill. Ideally the Company can avoid using its own properties; SJL.V has been offered material by two very large Chinese producers of graphite at a base cost that would be the same as (or less than) the Company's cost to mine here in exchange for a cut of the high-graded material.
SJL.V's strategy is to use others graphite first, if possible, as graphite is basically a commodity and the real value in graphite for the Li-ion anode is in its technological process. Regardless of the source, SJL.V will ensure the mine signature and finished material DNA are compatible, as unique and exacting specifications are required for all materials to work together in the end battery.
Leaving nothing to chance, SJL.V is retaining full control of the process, at least for this first offtake; the Company is expected to own the mill equipment, lease space (for free) at the manufacturer, supply its own raw material, and man its own equipment. There is an expertise that SJL.V brings to the table that no one else on the plant has proved they can replicate and majors have taken notice.
The patent to spherically shape graphite and carbon coat graphite holds extreme latent value. Prior to SJL.V's patented process, and currently the way it is done today, is through mechanical fusion; think of a spec of graphite that is ground down to 20 µm (µm is a micrometer, A.K.A. micron, = one millionth of a meter), mechanical fusion grinds graphite without ever touching it, it jitters itself to shape, it works well but is seriously inefficient. What SJL.V created is a horizontal system that uses devices similarly to ailerons on an airplane that spin and are able to process voluminous amounts of material, yielding the same effect as mechanical fusion without the inefficiencies, enabling SJL.V to make per piece of mill equipment ~5,000 tonnes per year vs. requiring 50 pieces of equipment (using current technology) to produce that same amount. Much more efficient and economical.
The milling process is actually comprised of two separate patented processes, one for shaping (as explained above) and one for carbon coating the natural graphite. A lithium-ion battery with natural graphite will outperform a synthetic graphite battery by about 35%, that's good, however natural graphite starts to break down on the edges of the anode. This problem is resolved by putting a carbon coating on the natural graphite particles, its one of the key sciences in a lithium-ion battery. The carbon coating is applied in a chamber via plasma and heat pulling apart some synthetic graphite and dropping the atoms of the carbon onto the graphite. The result is graphite that stays together on the edges of the anode. SJL.V's exclusive patent involves doing the process in a pressurized chamber and getting the material charged so it will magnetically attach the carbon coating to the graphite at high speed.
In the drawing you can see how the two pieces of equipment go together into one complete no man touch system from one end to the other. The big checkpoints here are that SJL.V has created a piece of equipment that will do a process at extremely high speed that no one else does and do so more efficiently from an energy standpoint, and a handling standpoint (no human touch).
Related releases
October 25, 2016 -
Saint Jean Carbon Commission Preliminary Economic Assessment [click to see full copy from source]
May 19, 2016 -
Saint Jean Carbon Starts Commercial Construction of Spherical Coated Graphite Mill [click to see full copy from source]
November 9, 2015 -
Saint Jean Carbon Files Patent for Spherically Shaping Graphite for Lithium Ion Batteries [click to see full copy from source]
The numbers
To build the module for carbon coating spherical graphite, depending on the capacity and size fractions sought on the materials, the costs are of a low of ~US$3.9 million to a high of ~US$5 million. SJL.V is looking at a capacity now, as announced, of between 6,000 and 7,500 tonnes per year.
How big does this get? The modules are scalable. The offtake is for 150,000 tonnes per year for 20 years, and depending on the different size of materials and different engineering for them, there is between $350 million to $500 million per year from just one battery plant. SJL.V is aiming to net out ~US$600 to US$700 on every tonne. The offtake will likely restrict services to competing car manufacturers, but not solar plants (which happen to use more graphite than cars), and other select battery manufacturers.
Reality of production is fast approaching:
The mill is being built for an electric car company as a prototype/first-shot at proofing what is going on their anodes. The mill will continue as a rolling start to bigger numbers. When the investment community figures out that the process to supply such specialized graphite material onto an assembly line of a manufacturer is beyond the ability of most ordinary graphite mining entities, because they don't have the technological expertise and knowhow -- SJL.V will be recognized for what its potential is as top-dog in its field. Right now the Company is building the mill for one car company, and that company has one battery manufacturer -- the mill was announced to build material that they are prototyping on their end so that in one year, when they say "let's get all these materials to play together", SJL.V is going to be at the party saying "We have our prototype mill built to take our concentrate material through for you". At that time the two pieces of SJL.V prototype equipment on their own, alone in operation, will be worth significant amounts of money.
Revenue growth to begin and won't stop, SJL.V will be valued as a different kind of entity:
SJL.V envisions in 2017 it should be able to produce from a low of 2,000 to a high of ~3,500 tonnes of spherical carbon coated graphite. Times that by $US2,000 per tonne.
In 2018 we would expect to see SJL.V produce ~18,000 to 25,000 tonnes.
2019 onwards; skies the limits. This one offtake on its own is for 150,000 tonnes per year for 20 years. The ramp up from electric car companies and the Panasonics of the world are very bullish with straight line projections. The problem with forecasting a phenomena is that it is difficult, could be less, it could also be more. But what we do know is that the demand for SJL.V's proprietary technology will be immense.
2) Energy Creation - Co-owned with Western University
SJL.V is working on photo cells with 100% flow through efficiency and will soon publish a related white paper for peer review. A one atom thick piece of graphene is actually one sheet of crystal clear carbon, the basic building block for diamonds, but unlike diamond though graphene is highly conductive, and is shaped like a lattice of linear honeycombs, it is two dimensional but one atom thick and the only thing in the world like it. If light is ran through this clear mass, the light enters the honeycombs and bounces off the structure creating equal (and often higher) power out the other end to be captured. SJL.V believes from the lab pieces it has produced that this technology has potential to eventually be refined to the point the Company can produce a small photo cell, about the size of a fingernail, with potential to generate energy at the same rate as what is now outputted from something the size of a car.
Aside: On the forefront of perpetual energy? Other scholars around the world have theorized that on an atomic level with graphene it is possible to generate energy at 120% to 135% out the other side. Indeed that is what SJL.V has observed in the lab (on an atomic level). The reason SJL.V tempers its descriptives at an impressive 100% throughput on its graphene solar cell technology is because it is not known if the phenomena of generating energy at a greater rate than going in is possible to occur on a large cell scale. As you can imagine though, the fact researchers are able today to create energy at an atomic level is exciting.
3) Graphene production - 100% owned
Saint Jean Carbon Inc. has a proprietary process for producing graphene. In layman's terms, harmonics are used to vibrate the graphite, and salt water to electrify the graphite and repel each of the layers apart creating a piece of graphite pulled apart into thousands of pieces down to one atom thick.
Related release
October 5, 2016 -
Saint Jean Carbon Produce Single Layer Graphene [click to see full copy from source]
4) First Superconductivity Room Temperature Wire - 100% owned
Saint Jean Carbon Inc. is the first in the world to create superconductivity at room temperature. The Company was featured on the cover of superconducting weekly for this achievement. The superconductivity is accomplished by a special way the graphene is created, in that it becomes diamagnetic, which means it repels a magnet. The energy in the middle of repelling magnets is superconductivity, it means there is zero resistance. That neutral zone in the middle is faster than the the speed of light and it is called superconductivity because anything can move through that space without resistance. In the current conventional world when you use an electrical cord on a tool the cord gets warm as electricity encounters resistance in the wire.
SJL.V has created a wire three feet long that you can run tens of amps through, that is big power, and it does not even heat up, plus the energy moves along at light speed.
Related release
December 22, 2015 -
Saint Jean Carbon Develops Room Temperature Superconducting Wire
The Company was aware of inefficiencies in the Tesla car, in the electrical which takes up power. SJL.V theorized that if there were superconductive conducting wires between two points there would be no loss of power. In its consultation with Tesla it was confirmed there is a 15% loss of power as a result. So on the graphene side SJL.V went about creating and patenting a superconductivity wire. That wire is designed to replace the wire coming off of the electric motor that's coming off a battery, allowing energy to get to the motor super efficiently without any resistance and not using up energy along the path. The Company has published a peer review paper put out by the Company and Western University on magnetic resistance.
5) Diagmagnetic graphene - 100% owned
One of the interesting things about graphene is that it is always in motion, when you look at it under an atomic microscope it moves, it is trying to get back together again, if you leave it alone it will restack itself. Tens of billions in research dollars has been spent globally figuring out how to turn it off. A year ago SJL.V impressed the world announcing that it had created diamagnetic graphite, actually turning the graphite off. To change something ferromagnetic (attracted to a magnetic field) to diamagnetic (creating an opposing of the magnetic field) at some point you have to turn that off. SJL.V are the first in the world to actually switch on and switch off graphene, that becomes important because if you are going to try to say replace a silicon chip (which graphene would be marvelously suited to replace due to its conductivity) you need to be able to control graphene.
6) Diabetes Glucose Meter - 100% owned
Pouring salt water over graphene, or immersing graphene in salt water puts a charge on graphene, because saline creates electrical charges. Western University with SJL.V's help created a way of measuring glucose through saline in your tear duct. The detection using this method functions so accurately that it is possible to detect micro changes in the body's glucose chemistry and alarm the person. This has been patented and is awaiting commercial implementation, which has enormous potential.
7) Magnetoresistance Graphene - Co-owned
Magnetoresistance is the backbone of the technology that led to the recent creation of SJL.V's diabetes glucose meter patent (mentioned above).
September 21, 2016 -
Saint Jean Carbon Successfully Creates Magnetoresistance Graphene [click to see full copy from source]
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Graphite Mining Side of the Business
The management team at SJL.V has a very successful track record of advancing graphite projects to successful take-out (taking Northern Graphite from a few million market cap to ~near-$200 million (from 1/2 a penny in 2006 to over ~$3.75), taking Mega Graphite to ~near-$200 million, taking Canada Carbon to ~near-$30M). Christian Derosier, P.Geo., PhD. heads-up the expertise SJL.V relies upon in advancing
a host of quality super high-grade and super high-purity lump graphite projects.
SJL.V's strategy is to use others graphite first, if possible, as graphite is basically a commodity and the real value in graphite for the Li-ion anode is in its technological process. Never the less, if SJL.V is going to produce 150,000 tonnes of spherical carbon coated graphite per year it has ensured it can meet 100% of the demand from its own strategic back-up holdings if need be. The company has formulated very sophisticated engineering models for its mining that have been fully vetted, it has plans to have up to 120 small pit (a small pit being just over 5 football fields in size). Multiple pits aid in ensuring consistency of product, and all of SJL.V's properties are in the same geographic area ensuring duplicating mining signatures and finished material DNA.
Graphite holdings in southwestern Quebec, Canada
The team at SLJ.V has over a decade worth of time invested in vetting graphite properties all over the world. In Quebec SJL.V has the best graphite properties in the world, bar none. Also the properties are in the best geographical location in the world; Quebec is one of the safest and highest rated mining jurisdictions in the world with established mining processes and regulations. Quebec is ranked as a top tier location by the Fraser Institute Global Mining Survey. There are also Federal and Provincial tax incentives for exploration (the Quebec government reimburses 32% of exploration costs).
All of SJL.V's graphite properties are in or proximal the Buckingham area of Quebec, ~45 minutes drive from Montreal, and ~1/2 hour drive from Ottawa. The properties are also ~2 km from rail spurs.
Only about 30% of the known graphite mines/deposits out there globally have the quality of material to actually be able to produce spherical carbon coated graphite for lithium-ion batteries and that is for one simple reason; you can't use heat or harsh chemicals, or anything, that damages the high order of carbon when you purify it. You actually have to have material that comes out of the ground of high purity. If you look at SJL.V's press releases, its material comes out of the ground naturally at grades in excess of 70% and purity of 99.875% (which is the exact purity required for lithium-ion batteries).
All of Saint Jean Carbon's properties in Quebec have a lot of historical information that can be extrapolated. Also the Company is performing required steps to prove the quality out, testing various sections of the deposits/mines to make sure it can actually produce adequately. The consensus amongst professionals in the know about SJL.V's Quebec graphite holdings is that they don't suspect that the Company will have anything less than several millions of tonnes of quality material.
The best historical evidence that the Company's southwestern Quebec graphite properties are top notch lump graphite is that the historical mines all sold to an English firm called Morgan Crucible in the early 1900's. Morgan Crucible would grind out a block of graphite and pour in steel to make parts, if that graphite has any sulphur or iron in it the crucible would crack -- so SLJ.V followed the mines Morgan Crucible bought from and all of SLJ.V's S.W. Quebec historic mine properties were vendors to Morgan Crucible.
The Company already blends small batches from various graphite occurrences on different properties it possesses when it produces its own graphene or when it needs to send samples to prospective manufacturers. Even though the Company plans to use other peoples graphite, it knows it could probably strip mine its own veins in a pinch for two years. The Company can get permits to strip the veins within three months, basically going in with a backhoe and strip out the veins. No mill is needed, or anything, as it would be stripping out shear solid 99.9% graphite (large football size chunks). It could simply grind and float that material for a while until it organizes to tackle the voluminous quantities of 40% - 70% range material it could run with for decades. Graphite mining is simple, it is essentially a glorified gravel pit; you crush it, you grind it, you put it in a floater with reagent, and it floats to the surface, then you scoop it off.
From an environmental standpoint, SJL.V is modeling to mine multiple small pits engineered so as to not have any steep walls, and take on the natural gradation of the geography. Southwestern Quebec is mainly soft rolling hills and badlands, so the Company is engineering its pits in such a way that each and every one of them are self-reclamating. So when the Company starts mining a pit it will begin shaping it to take the natural shape on the earth so it does not have to fence them off, water runs naturally through, and forestation starts too. Additionally, once it does 120 pits the Company would be positioned to continue on and make an additional 120, easily extending supply for at least another decade.
Expanded insight/full copy of the Technology MarketWatch Journal report on Saint Jean may be viewed at
https://technologymarketwatch.com/sjl.htm online.
Fredrick William, BA Ec.
Fredrick is a freelance information services professional for various media relation firms and consultant to several publicly traded entities. He monitors and invests in the resource, technology, consumer staples, healthcare, agriculture, financial, energy, utilities, and biotechnology/pharmaceutical sectors and is the managing director of Market Equities Research Group.
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Legal Notice / Disclaimer
This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. The author has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified. The author makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of the author only and are subject to change without notice. The author assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, the author assumes no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this Report. The author does not currently own shares of Saint Jean Carbon Inc. – SJL.V however intends to accumulate.