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Gorman on Graphite and the Battery Revolution

June 21, 2018 – “When you look at graphite and you look at its conductivity, its thermal abilities and its hardness, it cannot be replaced by any other material. We have to work with the governments, which we are doing right now. We have to work with the engineers, which we are doing right now. And we have to work with the end-user to understand what they need because right now we are sitting on the cusp of something that is going to happen and it is called the battery revolution.” states Paul Gorman, CEO of NovoCarbon Corp. (TSXV: GLK | OTCQB: GLKIF), in an interview with InvestorIntel Corp. CEO Tracy Weslosky.

Tracy Weslosky: Paul, NovoCarbon is going to be the only producer of spherical graphite in North America. Did I get that right?

Paul Gorman: You did get that right. We have spent a lot of time, a lot of energy, and a lot of money to get to where we are today under the NovoCarbon banner to be able to produce a material for battery manufacturers here in North America.

Tracy Weslosky: I am going to back you up because not all of us understand what spherical coated graphite is. Help me understand this.

Paul Gorman: It is simple. I mean, a cupcake is a cupcake with icing and frosting on it. How do you get to that point? You need bakers. You need icing. You need a way to deliver that cupcake and it has got to be consistent every time or your customers are not going to buy it. We are in the business of providing a quality material that is spherinized, shaped, and coated for an anode powder. If you cannot make a cupcake you are out of business and that is all we do. It is basically baking and knowing how to do it. 

Tracy Weslosky: I love this. This is a metaphor I can understand. Let us also then discuss the end-users, the offtake agreements. Targets then would be what, the battery makers?

Paul Gorman: The battery makers are where we are targeting. Mega factories are being built around North America right now. We are taking advantage of what we started 4 years ago, which was to qualify and sample material that we get as feedstock from Brazil, bring it in, and show it to the customers. When they actually go through their engineering process the clock starts. $2 million dollars later and 3 years later we are now at the point we are actually qualifying and sampling with the big makers here. We are very happy because there is no other competition that stands in our way.   

Tracy Weslosky: Let us discuss one of the other critical aspects of these critical materials, which is, of course, the Chinese are producing 80%, Trump is talking to everybody about sustainability and getting it out of North America. Obviously this would be impacting you and your shareholders positively or so I am guessing.

Paul Gorman: Absolutely. The value is there. We need the miners to mine the feedstock. We need the battery companies to be successful in building batteries. We are such a small part of that, but we are a very important part of that. When you look at graphite and you look at its conductivity, its thermal abilities, and its hardness, it cannot be replaced by any other material. We have to work with the governments, which we are doing right now. We have to work with the engineers, which we are doing right now. And we have to work with the end-user to understand what they need because right now we are sitting on the cusp of something that is going to happen and it is called the battery revolution…to access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: NovoCarbon Corp. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.