Coosa Conversations with Chris

Chris Jones shares positive news for investors and Westwater with the results from the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for their graphite site in Alabama. In this recap, Chris outlines the significance of the results and explains what this study means for Westwater shareholders and investors.   

Here’s a breakdown of the main points: 

8:10 
So, the definitive phase defines the parameters and the process for phase one, which is 3,700 tons a year of CSPG production, and about that same amount in addition to it as fines, purified fines. We sell both those products into the marketplace. Or different markets, of course. Purified fines can be made into purified micronized graphite for alkaline-powered cells and the like, and the CSPG goes into electric vehicles and all lithium-ion batteries. 

11:05 
But the phase one is interesting and unique in a lot of different ways. First of all, it puts us in the market for selling battery-grade graphite. Secondly, it estimates that it's going to produce around $20 million a year in cashflow. So, our dream for this company has been to make it sustainable in terms of cashflow to start, and then use that as a platform for growth later. Well, phase one does that. And we have a pretty conservative estimate of the capital expenditures. We're pretty sure about what the operational costs are going to be. And based on that, $20 million per year of cashflow is just nothing to be ashamed of, that's for sure. It's a darn good start on what is destined to be a far larger project. 

 
13:54 
we had also acquired two more buildings in the industrial park, and in fact, closed on those day before yesterday, about 90,000 square feet of warehouse and office space that will jumpstart our production schedule certainly by that amount. So about 60,000 feet of an open structure and open floor plan structure will be utilized for warehousing, both for finished product storage and for our parts and pieces warehouses that we'll need for spare parts. The other building is 30,000 square feet, and it will be our admin. And ultimately, in addition to that, it will house our core storage for our geologic materials, stuff we generate when we drill, and our lab, as well as a full-blown office building, training facility, and some other stuff. So, we are super excited about that. 

17:14 
So, what does it mean for a shareholder? It means we're doing what we said we're going to do. And we expect, then, in 17 months that we're going to be commissioning a facility that produces graphite for lithium ion business and producing cash so that our investors can enjoy the benefits of us being a cash-positive organization. I think you don't need a telescope anymore to see when this thing's going to work. I think you just stand on your tippy toes and you can see 17 months into the future. 

Resources 
Learn more about Westwater’s subsidiary Alabama Graphite Products on our website.
Check out our website. 
Got questions? Send us a message.
Partner with us to fuel the energy of the future. 

It’s hard to believe Series 2 is coming to a close. Throughout this season, we’ve covered a range of material about Westwater’s graphite products and applications. Chris hosted conversations about the graphite market growth potential, the significance of graphite in the industry, and the partnership with local officials in Coosa County in Alabama. With our agreement with the Alabama government, we’re one step closer to building a one-of-a-kind graphite production facility on U.S. soil. Commercial production is targeted to begin at the end of 2022. There are exciting things ahead for Westwater and Coosa Conversations with Chris! Stay tuned for Series 3. Coming soon!

Resources
Read about our agreement with the Alabama government for the Alabama Graphite Project. 

Please send any questions you would like answered by filling out the Audience Form.  

Partner with us to fuel the energy of the future

On June 22nd, Westwater Resources and the State of Alabama officials announced the partnership for the Alabama Graphite Products construction site in Coosa County. The ceremony included Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, Alabama Department of Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield, and Westwater CEO Chris Jones among others. This marks the beginning of a joint partnership of local and state officials in collaboration with Westwater’s subsidiary Alabama Graphite Products.

This episode covers…

A recap of the ceremony “with the governor and the secretary of commerce for Alabama was the culmination of a really huge amount of work on the part of the Lake Martin industrial development people, the Coosa county, the state of Alabama, our team here at Westwater and a whole host of others. In putting together a land package that we can build our factory on.” (10:32)

Chris Jones walks through the naming of Alabama Graphite Products. “It's a wholly owned subsidiary of Westwater, but we want people in Alabama and our customers to identify our products and our processes with that facility in Alabama.” (14:47)

Phase One will create from 80-100 jobs for the community. “People are going to be hired right there in Coosa county and Tallapoosa county and Talladega county and surrounding areas.” (17:58)

With all the great news in 2021, “Investors should expect that we're going to keep our foot on the throttle.” (19:23) Especially with facility operations targeted at the end of 2022.

Resources

Read more of the full story on Alabama Articles

Learn more about Alabama Graphite Products on our website.

Please send any questions you would like answered by filling out the Audience Form. 

Westwater Resources has started production of Purified Micronized Graphite or PMG. Cevat Er, Westwater’s Vice President of Technical Services, joins Chris Jones to discuss company procedures used to purify natural flake graphite to greater than 99.5% fixed carbon. 

In this episode, we discuss…

Milling process could be, various milling techniques could be applied depending on the product that we're making, each application has a different product specification. (1:46)

PMG is being used by our Alkaline battery industry… where they use manganese dioxide. In order to increase the conductivity of that material, they need to add some PMG material to it based on the battery type, like making C, D type of batteries usually utilized coarser PMG fraction. (5:40)

We're working on other form[s] of graphite as well to see if that's going to have an impact. We're doing some testing on [those] currently…. graphite is definitely is going to improve the performance and efficiency of those batteries. (10:20)

Resources

Learn more about PMG in the battery market segments on our website 

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Please send any questions you would like answered by filling out the Audience Form. 

This episode is the second part of a conversation from Jay Wago and Chris Jones covering one of Westwater's three products, PMG. From pacemakers to phones, PMG is a necessary graphite product in numerous daily use devices we all depend on.

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This episode features a conversation from Jay Wago and Chris Jones covering one of Westwater's three products, PMG. From pacemakers to phones, PMG is a necessary graphite product in numerous daily use devices we all depend on.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this episode coming out soon! 

Subscribe to our newsletter to learn more.

Submit a question to have answered on our show.

Want to learn more?

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In this episode of Coosa Conversations with Chris, host Chris Jones talks with Cevat Er, the vice-president of Tech Services for Westwater Resources. Chris and Cevat talk about Cevat’s background, how he got started at Westwater and why Westwater is at ‘the right place at the right time’.  

In this bonus episode, Chris Jones of Westwater Resources sits down with Christine Corrado of Proactive NYC to discuss the updates on the Coosa Graphite project, WWR's flagship and crown jewel. Learn about how Chris thinks about the progress made on this project and Westwater's plans for 2021 and beyond.

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In this episode of Coosa Conversations with Chris, Chris Jones sits down with Dain McCoig,
who is heading up Westwater’s Coosa Graphite project. They talk about Dain’s background, his work on the "Crown Jewel" Coosa Graphite project, and what both Dain and Chris are excited about for the future of Westwater Resources.

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