ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd. (TSXV: ZEN) (“ZEN” or the “Company“) has closed its previously announced private placement of flow-through common shares of the company and reports that it was oversubscribed. The company raised $1.21-million in respect of the offering, which will be used to finance the 2020 environmental baseline field program and community engagement work on the company’s Albany graphite project.
The offering consisted of the issuance of 3.025 million flow-through common shares at a price of 40 cents per flow-through common share for aggregate gross proceeds of $1.21 million. Finders’ fees in an aggregate amount of $54,840 were paid by the company in connection to the offering.
The flow-through common shares issued in connection with the offering will be subject to a hold period until April 20, 2020, in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Graphene Production and Graphene Oxide Research Update
The Company is moving forward with graphene production and anticipates that small-scale graphene related production will commence before the end of Q1 2020. The first batch of equipment for the purification small-scale pilot plant was delivered this week. In the coming months, ZEN is aiming to setup small-scale graphite purification and graphene-related production facilities including Graphene Quantum Dots (GQDs) and Graphene Oxide (GO). These products will be available for research and development, application development and for commercial use.
In addition, the Company reports that Prof. Aicheng Chen and his team at the University of Guelph was recently awarded a $310,000, three-year NSERC CRD grant to continue developing an environmentally friendly and commercially scalable electrochemical process to produce GO and GQDs. ZEN looks forward to continuing its strong collaborative relationship with Prof. Chen and his team.
Graphene in Aluminum Products $450,000 Alliance Grant
The Company together with an industrial collaborator in the aluminum business are jointly supporting a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (“NSERC”) Alliance grant application by Dr. Lukas Bichler, a materials engineer from the University of British Columbia in Okanagan. This application followed promising results earlier this year where Dr. Bichler and his team used ZEN’s graphene products in aluminum alloys. NSERC recently approved the $450,000, three-year Alliance grant. ZEN looks forward to working with its aluminum industrial collaborator and Dr. Bichler to create innovative aluminum products for the automotive industry.
Environmental Baseline Program Update
The Company reports that in late November, the first full open water field season for the environmental baseline program for the Albany Project came to a successful close. All the program objectives were met with a wide range of data collected over a period of eight months. The collected data initiates the physical and biological characterization of the site needed for project development planning and regulatory permitting. ZEN is working closely with ERM Canada Ltd.’s (“ERM”) team of scientists, biologists, and engineers. Members from the Constance Lake First Nation (“CLFN”) were also important members of the field teams providing local knowledge and supported the process of data collection (click here to see CLFN videos of the various field activities). ERM is leading the desktop and fieldwork associated with this program on behalf of ZEN. ERM is a leading global provider of environmental, health, safety, social and sustainability consulting services with over three decades of experience in the Canadian mining industry.
About ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd.
ZEN is an emerging graphene technology solutions company with a focus on the development of graphene-based nanomaterial products and applications. The unique Albany Graphite Project provides the company with a potential competitive advantage in the graphene market as independent labs in Japan, UK, Israel, USA and Canada have independently demonstrated that ZEN’s Albany Graphite/Naturally PureTM is an ideal precursor material which easily converts (exfoliates) to graphene, using a variety of mechanical, chemical and electrochemical methods.
For further information:
Dr. Francis Dubé, Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +1 (289) 821-2820
Email: [email protected]
