Alabama Graphite Succeeds in Producing High-Performance Coated Spherical Graphite For Lithium-ion Batteries

Alabama Graphite Corp. (TSXV:ALP,OTCQX:ABGPF) announced the following results from downstream lithium-ion battery tests recently performed on the Company’s Coated Spherical Purified Graphite that was produced from flake graphite obtained from the Company’s Coosa Graphite Project.
As quoted in the press release:

HIGHLIGHTS

• Independent battery testing evaluated CSPG produced by the Company’s proprietary CSPG manufacturing process. The test results demonstrated that AGC’s CSPG responded very well in CR2016 lithium-ion battery coin cell (half-cell with Lithium counter electrode) performance testing;

• A total of 60 CR2016 lithium-ion half-cell batteries were manufactured in the U.S.A. with AGC’s CSPG as a material component. These 60 batteries were the ones that were utilized in the preliminary tests being reported on;

• Spheronization (shaping), micronization (classification by size) and surface coating of graphite from AGC’s Coosa Graphite Project was achieved through the Company’s innovative, proprietary specialty midstream CSPG manufacturing process which utilizes what AGC believes are environmentally sustainable processing methods (that is, without the use of hydrofluoric, hydrochloric, sulfuric, nitric acids and alkalis);

• The CSPG that was tested performed well and achieved near theoretical electrochemical performance;

• An ultra-high-purity grade (99.95% Cg) of CSPG was achieved;

• Graphite percentage by loss-on-ignition test was 99.95 wt% C;

• Tap Density* was 0.985 g/cm³(gram per cubic centimeter);

• Tight control was achieved over CSPG particle size distribution (CSPG particle size distribution plays a crucial role in battery design for high capacity (mAh) rating and efficiency of cycling);

• Initial performance suggests that AGC’s CSPG has high stability upon cycling;

• High-rate pulse discharge indicates that the CSPG can operate at high drain rates;

• AGC’s CSPG has a comparatively low 0.62 m²/g BET surface area, which is a key safety metric as well as a prerequisite for achieving low irreversible capacity loss;

• Testing results on the Company’s CSPG exceed the performance of the comparison benchmark of commercially available grade material; and

• The test results confirm AGC’s potential midstream capability to manufacture and tailor lithium-ion battery anode grade graphite in order to create value-added products to meet highly demanding downstream customer specifications.

Alabama Graphite President and CEO, Donald Baxter, stated:

We are very pleased with these positive preliminary results of our natural flake CSPG material’s performance in lithium-ion battery testing. Our recently released Preliminary Economic Assessment demonstrated that our planned vertically integrated, proprietary CSPG production process holds the potential for AGC to become a U.S. supplier of specialty, secondary-processed graphite products for the lithium-ion battery markets.
These test results indicate that our CSPG from natural flake graphite is not only suitable for lithium-ion battery use, but that its performance appears to be superior to costlier and environmentally questionable synthetic graphite. We look forward to conducting additional battery and CSPG testing, including long-term cycling performance testing, which is another critical metric in demonstrating the performance of CSPG as a battery material.

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