Graphex Technologies Reinforces its Diverse Mine-to-Battery Global Strategy Following the Announcement of Graphite Export Limits from China

Rhea-AI Summary

Graphex Group comments on China's new controls on graphite exports and emphasizes its strategic approach to deliver anode material for North American automakers and battery manufacturers.

Positive

• Graphex has secured raw graphite supply from numerous sources across the globe and is well-positioned to bring large-scale domestic processing capability online in 2024. The company has offtake agreements with various global partners for raw materials, including natural flake graphite from Syrah Resources, raw material aggregation from Northern Graphite Corporation, and supply from South Star Battery Metals, Volt Resources, Gratomic, and Reforme Group. Graphex's strategy to create a separate ex-China graphite supply chain for North America is validated by recent news.

Negative

• None.

As the industry faces an urgent need to accelerate the build out of domestic infrastructure for critical supply chains, Graphex issues an update on its diverse upstream sources of quality raw material and domestic production expansion

This move by China may compel more aggressive collaboration between government, industry, and financial markets to build out the necessary resiliency of the graphite supply chain for the benefit of our economy and national security

WARREN, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Graphex Group Limited, together with its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, Graphex Technologies, LLC (“Graphex” or the “Company”) (NYSE American: GRFX | HKSE: 6128), is pleased to comment on the recent news out of China regarding new controls on graphite exports, and to re-emphasize its strategic approach to deliver the necessary anode material to meet the needs of North American automakers and battery manufacturers for Lithium-ion batteries required for EVs, energy storage, and other advanced use cases..

Graphex has over a decade of large-scale graphite production experience and is currently among the top 10 global suppliers of specialized spherical graphite to the EV and renewable energy industries. Through various deliberate agreements secured over the last year, Graphex continues to secure raw graphite supply from numerous sources across the globe and in doing so, is well-positioned to bring large-scale domestic processing capability online beginning in 2024.

“The announcement to place controls on graphite exports is a loud wakeup call and a national security issue for the US and Canada, plain and simple, and we have been preparing for this,” said John DeMaio, CEO of Graphex Technologies. “As I shared recently with Reuters, the news out of China highlights the urgency to accelerate the build-out of domestic graphite supply, and although sudden, the announcement is not entirely surprising given that the Chinese graphite supply chain is mature, well-organized, and self-contained, and the local markets that it supports are growing. Adding in geopolitical tensions and IP concerns and this pull-back was foreseeable.”

Graphex’s current and future offtake agreements for raw materials emphasize the ex-China mine-to-battery approach preferred and/or required by automakers in North America. Global collaboration agreements with Graphex now include:

• Syrah Resources Limited, for natural flake graphite from Syrah’s Balama graphite operation in Mozambique.
• Northern Graphite Corporation, to aggregate Northern’s raw material in Canada and Namibia
• South Star Battery Metals, for supply from both Brazil and the United States, through the Santa Cruz Graphite Project and the Ceylon Graphite Project.
• Volt Resources, to provide graphite from its Bunyu Graphite Project in Tanzania
• Gratomic, for the natural graphite from its Aukam Project in Namibia
• Reforme Group, to provide material from its secured mineral deposits across Australia

“We recognized early on the vulnerability of the lopsided dependency on China for graphite supply, and since early 2022 we have been hyper focused on creating a completely separate ex-China graphite supply chain for North America,” added DeMaio. “The recent news only validates that our strategy continues to be sound, the need to accelerate growth is more urgent than ever, and prospects for the future in the industry are bright.”

​​About Graphex

Graphex is a multinational technology company focused on the development of technologies and products to enhance renewable energy, particularly the refining of natural spherical graphite, synthetic graphite, and graphene-related products - key components in EVs/Lithium-ion batteries as well as in other uses. Graphex has extensive commercial experience in the deep processing of graphite and producing battery grade graphite anode material. Current production is 10,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) with a current expansion underway to increase production to 50,000 tpa within the next 18 months,100,000 tpa over the next 36 months, and to 150,000 tpa or more by 2030. Graphex is currently among the top suppliers of specialized graphite anode material to the EV and renewable energy industries and holds patents in areas including products, production methods, machinery design, and environmental protection. Graphex’s strategy is to expand its operations globally to support energy transition and electrification efforts worldwide.

To learn more about Graphex Technologies, please visit www.graphexgroup.com.

​​Forward Looking Statements

All statements contained in this presentation other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, our business strategy and plans and our objectives for future operations, are “forward looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the safe harbor in Section 27A and 21E of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange act of 1934, respectively. You can identify some of these forward looking statements by words or phrases such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “likely,” “potential,” “continue” or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. We have based these forward looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, short term and long-term business operations and objectives, and financial needs. These forward looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. Information from third sources identified in this release is based on published reports for such information and we have assumed the accuracy of such reports without independent investigation or inquiry. This communication is for informational purposes only and is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities of Graphex Group Limited, including but not limited to its American Depositary Shares.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231025856125/en/

Corporate:

Graphex Group

info@graphexgroup.com

www.graphexgroup.com

Public Relations:

FischTank PR

graphex@fischtankpr.com

Source: Graphex Group Limited

FAQ

What is Graphex's approach to deliver anode material for North American automakers and battery manufacturers?

Graphex has secured raw graphite supply from numerous sources across the globe and is well-positioned to bring large-scale domestic processing capability online in 2024.

Who are Graphex's global collaboration partners for raw materials?

Graphex has collaboration agreements with Syrah Resources, Northern Graphite Corporation, South Star Battery Metals, Volt Resources, Gratomic, and Reforme Group.

What is Graphex's strategy regarding the graphite supply chain?

Graphex's strategy is to create a separate ex-China graphite supply chain for North America.