ENERGY MINERALS

Mason Graphite soars on Black Swan deal

Shares in Mason Graphite jumped almost 30% yesterday as the company announced a new graphene joint venture with UK specialty chemical company Thomas Swan & Co.

Staff reporter
 Mason Graphite is investing in a new graphene venture

Mason Graphite is investing in a new graphene venture

Mason would purchase strategic assets related to graphene processing, with Thomas Swan to receive £3 million and shares representing 33.33% of new entity Black Swan Graphene.

Mason would also invest $2.5 million in Black Swan for working capital purposes and hold 66.7%.

Black Swan Graphene was expected to go public and was aiming to establish a large-scale commercial production facility in Quebec near Mason's Lac Gueret graphite project.

The pair said the location meant it could also leverage the province's competitive and green hydroelectricity, and would accelerate the production and commercialisation of graphene by integrating the supply chain and lowering production costs.

"This partnership creates a more efficient supply chain, which will solidify and accelerate the deployment of our graphene processing technology within a burgeoning industry," Thomas Swan CEO Harry Swan said in a joint statement.

"Not only this new venture is expected to create meaningful graphite demand and is therefore a natural extension of the Lac Guéret graphite project, but it truly transforms the company's potential as it elevates Mason to a preeminent position within the fastest growing segment of the carbon industry," Mason chairman Fahad Al-Tamimi said.

The pair said Thomas Swan's graphene processing technology had made significant commercial achievements and was expected to be "widely used in ‘off-the-shelf' products in a near future".

Since graphene was first isolated in 2004, its uses have grown, with the polymer additive market now worth an estimated US$46 billion annually.

The pair said graphene could also be used to strengthen concrete and it rendered plastics recyclable, tipping a significant role in the global effort to ban single-use plastics.

They also pointed to Johnson Matthey's recent agreement to use Thomas Swan's graphene to enhance performance in lithium-ion and next generation batteries.

Lac Gueret has a forecast 25-year life according to a 2018 feasibility study.

Mason shares (TSXV: LLG) closed up 29.6% to C70c, above the midpoint of a one-year span of 15c-$1.19, valuing it at $95.4 million (US$76 million).

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