Alabama Graphite appoints Hawley advisory board chair

Aug 14, 2015

ALABAMA GRAPHITE CORP. ANNOUNCES THE APPOINTMENT OF GRAPHITE INDUSTRY EXPERT GEORGE C. HAWLEY AS SENIOR TECHNICAL ADVISOR AND CHAIRMAN OF TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD

Alabama Graphite Corp. has appointed George C. Hawley as senior technical adviser and chairman of the company’s technical advisory board. A leading international industrial minerals expert specializing in the development and marketing of graphite and value-added graphite products, Mr. Hawley adds more than a one-half century of experience to AGC’s world-class team of graphite industry professionals. With a bachelor of science from the University of London, Mr. Hawley’s background is in chemistry, chemical engineering and polymer materials. Having successfully developed several innovative processes involving graphite, Mr. Hawley’s graphite work has encompassed nuclear, chemical, rocket nozzles, anodes, friction materials, heat management, electrodes and carbon brushes. A member of the U.S. Society of Plastics Engineers, American Chemical Society and Society of Mining Engineers, his experience includes research and development for one of the world’s largest producers of synthetic graphite products, the Morgan Crucible Company (now Morgan Advanced Materials), and lead acid battery manufacturer Chloride Exide Ltd., as well as for government agencies and various mining companies in the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia, Africa and Canada. Mr. Hawley specializes in natural graphite anodes for lithium-ion batteries, and has consulted for Quinto Mining Corp. (now Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.), Northern Graphite Corp. and Focus Graphite Inc., prior to joining Alabama Graphite. Mr. Hawley has published more than 50 technical papers on industrial mineral products pertaining to technical and marketing topics, in addition to regularly presenting at global graphite and industrial mineral conferences worldwide.

Ron S. Roda, president and co-chief executive officer, commented: “On behalf of the board of directors and the entire company, we welcome George Hawley to AGC. We are excited to have one of the world’s foremost value-added graphite experts join us as we accelerate the advancement of our flagship Coosa graphite project in Coosa county, Alabama, United States, the premiere flake graphite project in the continental United States of America. Our corporate strategy moving forward is to develop Coosa with a primary focus on value-added graphite products to supply the growing lithium-ion and grid-storage battery industries from a secure, high-quality American source.”

“George Hawley has the requisite skill set and demonstrated experience critical to ensuring that we achieve our value-add objectives in the most efficient and effective manner possible, providing a further competitive advantage for the company, while creating superior-performing and cost-effective solutions for our future customers, and maximum value for our shareholders,” stated co-chief executive officer Donald Baxter. “On a personal note, I am thrilled to be working with George again as we fast-track AGC’s battery-ready graphite initiatives. His experience in graphite research, process and product development is unrivalled. The term ‘expert’ is thrown around pretty loosely in the mining industry. There may be a lot of so-called experts, but few truly good ones. George is one of most talented graphite industry experts in the world.”

As announced on June 25, 2015, AGC has commenced development and testing of value-added graphite products for use in lithium-ion batteries, specifically the production of coated spherical graphite (CSPG or battery-ready graphite) for use in lithium-ion battery anodes. Companies producing electric vehicles and other green energy products/applications are understandably being held accountable for the environmental footprint of their input materials. This trend is growing, as is the market, opening the door for environmentally sustainable mining and production of graphite in the Western hemisphere, namely in Alabama, U.S. AGC has the potential to be the first and only graphite producer in the continental United States. The current world consumption of flake graphite is 400,000 tonnes per year. A key, enduring demand driver for graphite, the market for batteries alone, beyond 2020, is estimated to be 1.7 million tonnes.

The battery-ready graphite market has been identified as the market segment with the largest growth potential, while providing the potential for much higher margins than conventional run-of-mine graphite production. Alabama Graphite is one of very few companies in the graphite development space with management that has actual graphite experience, including mining, processing, operations and value-added graphite production expertise.

Mr. Hawley joins Dr. Nitin Chopra on the Alabama Graphite technical advisory board.

Qualified person

Donald K.D. Baxter, PEng, co-chief executive officer and executive director, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 guidelines, and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release.

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