Westwater Resources Pilot Program Achieves Production Milestone
11 Metric Tonnes of Battery-Grade Graphite Products Produced For Potential Customers
Definitive Feasibility Study on Schedule for Mid-Year Completion
Westwater Resources Inc. (NYSE American: WWR), an energy materials development company, today announced a production milestone at its pilot plant operations at Dorfner Anzaplan's facilities near Amberg, Germany, as well as at facilities in Frankfurt, Germany; Chicago, Illinois; and Buffalo, New York. The combined effort at these facilities has produced more than 11 metric tonnes of Westwater's three battery-grade graphite products: ULTRA-PMG™, ULTRA-CSPG™ and ULTRA-DEXDG™, which were previously produced at a bench scale.
As of March 18, Westwater has produced:
- 9.7 metric tonnes of ULTRA-PMG™ in six sizes (6, 8, 10, 15, 30 and 44 microns). Production is now complete, and samples will be packaged and shipped to a laboratory for testing.
- 1.5 metric tonnes of the precursor (Spherical Purified Graphite) for ULTRA-CSPG™ in three sizes (10, 18 and 24 microns). Production of this product will continue until the first week of April, when samples will be packaged and shipped to a laboratory for testing and coating to make ULTRA-CSPGTM.
- 0.2 metric tonnes of ULTRA-DEXDG™; samples will be packaged and shipped to a laboratory for testing once production is finished in mid-April.
Westwater undertook its pilot program operations to inform and enhance design work for its commercial production facility and to produce products for testing by potential customers. The information from those operations is being incorporated into a Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS"). As previously announced, Westwater has awarded the preparation of the DFS to a team of experienced and qualified engineering and consulting companies led by Samuel Engineering.
"I am very pleased with the hard work our team has put in on this effort," said Chris Jones, CEO of Westwater Resources. "Samples of all three of our products have been requested by multiple battery producers, and we expect to ship product to them within 30-90 days.
"The core of our pilot program is the measurement of all inputs - such as energy and reagents - and outputs to ensure these high-performance battery-grade graphite products are manufactured in a manner that does not harm our employees, our communities or the environment," Jones continued. "We will use these measurements in our DFS which we expect to complete by mid-2021. The feasibility study will include plans for the final design of the commercial production facility and will be the basis for the construction of the facility from mid-2021 through 2022. We expect to commission the commercial plant in the fourth quarter of 2022."
The Westwater Battery Graphite Process
The distinguishing characteristics of the Westwater battery graphite process include:
- Our process produces three battery-grade graphite materials, which broadens the marketplace to all types of batteries, rather than a single battery product line.
- Westwater does not use harmful hydrofluoric acid like our Chinese competitors.
- Off-spec materials generated by the Coated Spherical Graphite process will be utilized to bolster Purified Micronized Graphite production.
About Westwater Resources
Westwater Resources (NYSE American: WWR) is focused on developing battery-grade graphite. The Company's projects include the Coosa Graphite Project - the most advanced natural flake graphite project in the contiguous United States - and the associated Coosa Graphite Deposit located across 41,900 acres (~17,000 hectares) in east-central Alabama. For more information, visit www.westwaterresources.net.
Cautionary Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are identified by words such as "expects," "estimates," "projects," "anticipates," "believes," "could," "scheduled," and other similar words. All statements addressing events or developments that WWR expects or anticipates will occur in the future, including but not limited to the commencement of operations at the Company's proposed commercial plant facilities, future production of battery graphite products, future financing activities and financial resources, and activities involving the Coosa Graphite Project and the Coosa Graphite Deposit, are forward-looking statements. Because they are forward-looking, they should be evaluated in light of important risk factors and uncertainties. These risk factors and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, (a) the Company's ability to successfully produce battery grade materials in quantities and on schedules consistent with the Coosa Graphite Project business plan; (b) the Company's ability to raise additional capital in the future including the ability to utilize existing financing facilities; (c) spot price and long-term contract price of graphite and vanadium; (d) risks associated with our operations and the operations of our partners such as Dorfner Anzaplan and Samuel Engineering, including the impact of COVID-19 and its potential impacts to the capital markets; (e) operating conditions at the Company's projects; (f) government regulation of the graphite industry and the vanadium industry; (g) world-wide graphite and vanadium supply and demand, including the supply and demand for energy storage batteries; (h) unanticipated geological, processing, regulatory and legal or other problems the Company may encounter in the jurisdictions where the Company operates or intends to operate, including but not limited to Alabama and Colorado; (i) the ability of the Company to enter into and successfully close material transactions; (j) any graphite or vanadium discoveries not being in high-enough concentration to make it economic to extract the minerals; (k) currently pending or new litigation or arbitration; and (l) other factors which are more fully described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should any of the Company's underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those currently anticipated. In addition, undue reliance should not be placed on the Company's forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or publicly announce any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements contained in this news release.
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Contact
Westwater Resources
Christopher M. Jones, President & CEO
Phone: 303.531.0480
Jeff Vigil, VP Finance & CFO
Phone: 303.531.0481
Email: Info@WestwaterResources.net
Product Sales Contact:
Jay Wago, Vice President - Sales and Marketing
Phone: 303.531.0472
Email: Sales@westwaterresources.net
Investor Relations
Porter, LeVay & Rose
Michael Porter, President
Phone: 212.564.4700
Email: Westwater@plrinvest.com