Zenyatta Announces the Formation of a Wholly Owned Subsidiary, ZEN-tech Materials Ltd., to Develop & Commercialize Graphene Related Opportunities
Thunder Bay, ON - 25 July 2017 - Zenyatta Ventures Ltd. ("Zenyatta" or "Company") (TSXV: ZEN) (OTCQX: ZENYF) is pleased to announce the formation of a wholly owned subsidiary called ZEN-tech Materials Limited ("ZEN-tech") with a registration in England and Wales. ZEN-tech will focus on the development and commercialization activities of graphene applications and the allocation of any associated intellectual property ('IP') and worldwide licensing. The formation of ZEN-tech is a strategic move that will provide a vehicle to capture value and advance graphene application development separate from the mineral development Company. Zenyatta will continue to focus on advancing the Albany graphite deposit towards production and will supply highly crystalline, purified graphite to ZEN-tech, academics and end users.
"It has become apparent in the last 12 months that Zenyatta has created additional value from our global collaboration and development related to various graphene initiatives. It makes strategic sense to create a subsidiary to hold the various opportunities and handle these initiatives with our partners", stated Aubrey Eveleigh, President & CEO of Zenyatta. "ZEN-tech has the advantage of developing proprietary graphene-based technology with a consistent supply of high-quality raw material from Zenyatta's wholly owned Albany graphite deposit. We have demonstrated that Zenyatta's graphite converts (exfoliates) easily via sonication to graphene, including mono-layer to tri-layer, has excellent dispersion properties and is highly suitable for many graphene and graphene-oxide applications."
Graphene has shown to enhance the properties of many existing products since its discovery in 2004. The technology pipeline for ZEN-tech includes graphene applications for concrete composites, rubber composites, sensors, filtration, emulsions and silicon-graphene batteries. The formation of a subsidiary will help facilitate and focus the integration of Zenyatta graphene into the next generation of commercial technologies, providing various industries with advanced materials that have improved performance.
ZEN-tech, a private incorporated company, will have access to the high-purity graphite from Zenyatta Ventures for graphene and graphene related opportunities. There is a high level of interest, especially in Europe, from sophisticated technology or cleantech entities, particularly related to a need for access to a unique raw material graphite source that converts to high-quality graphene for various applications. The UK is a centre for graphene research, innovation and funding and consequently this attracts many global graphene industry specialists. By locating in UK, ZEN-tech will be able to tap into the extensive resources available there and will be on the leading edge of the developments in this new and fast growing materials sector. The subsidiary will operate independently of Zenyatta and will be assembling an expert management team once the structure is in place. Details on company structure and related developments will be announced in the near future.
About Zenyatta
Zenyatta is developing the Albany Graphite Deposit situated in northeastern Ontario, Canada. The deposit is a unique type of igneous-hosted, fluid-derived graphite mineralization contained in two large breccia pipes. The Company is seeking end users for their graphite and graphene and is working with several collaborative partners including the development of a graphene enhanced composites. Other potential markets for graphite include Lithium-ion batteries, fuel cells and powder metallurgy. The application for graphitic material is constantly evolving due to its unique chemical, electrical and thermal properties. It maintains its stability and strength under temperatures in excess of 3,000°C and is very resistant to chemical corrosion. It is also one of the lightest of all reinforcing elements and has high natural lubricating abilities. The outlook for the global graphite market is very promising with demand growing rapidly from new applications. It is now considered one of the more strategic elements by many leading industrial nations, particularly for its growing importance in high technology manufacturing and in the emerging "green" industries such as electric vehicle components.
The Albany graphite deposit is situated 30 km north of the Trans-Canada Highway, power line and natural gas pipeline near the communities of Constance Lake First Nation and Hearst. A rail line is located 70 km away with an all-weather road approximately 10 km from the graphite deposit. The world trend is to develop products for technological applications that need extraordinary performance using ultra-high purity graphite powder at an affordable cost. Albany graphite can be upgraded with very good crystallinity without the use of aggressive acids (hydrofluoric) or high temperature thermal treatment therefore having an environmental advantage over other types of upgraded high-purity graphite material.
Mr. Aubrey Eveleigh, P.Geo., Zenyatta's President and CEO, is the "Qualified Person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed, prepared and supervised the preparation of the information contained in this news release.
For Further Information Please visit the Company's website at: http://www.zenyatta.ca or contact:
Mara Strazdins, HB.Sc., VP Corporate Communications and Investor Relations
Mobile: (416) 710-0646, Office (807) 346-1660 Email: mstrazdins@zenyatta.ca or info@zenyatta.ca
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: This analysis does not represent a statistically large sample size. Furthermore, these positive results do not mean that Zenyatta can extract and process Albany graphite for graphite applications on an economic basis. Zenyatta is in the development stage and without a formal independent feasibility study, there is no assurance that the operation will be economic or placed into production. Neither 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. This news release may contain forward looking information and Zenyatta cautions readers that forward looking information is based on certain assumptions and risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations of Zenyatta included in this news release. This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements", which often, but not always, can be identified by the use of words such as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". These statements are based on information currently available to Zenyatta and Zenyatta provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements with respect to Zenyatta's future plans, objectives or goals, to the effect that Zenyatta or management expects a stated condition or result to occur, including the expected timing for release of a pre-feasibility study, the expected uses for graphite in the future, and the future uses of the graphite from Zenyatta's Albany deposit. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of metallurgical processing, ongoing exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of Zenyatta's mineral properties, and Zenyatta's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as, but are not limited to: failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves; the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results; the inability to identify target markets and satisfy the product criteria for such markets; the inability to complete a prefeasibility study; the inability to enter into offtake agreements with qualified purchasers; delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals; political risks; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates; fluctuations in commodity prices; delays in the development of projects; capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry; and those risks set out in Zenyatta's public documents filed on SEDAR. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of Zenyatta's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on Zenyatta's forward-looking statements. Although Zenyatta believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Zenyatta disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.