"... the writing has been on the wall for over a year now ... when you look at the poor quality of jumbo knl has compared to it's less developed peers, imo"
I'm sorry, I am not entirely sure why I jumped onto KNLs thread here to be inundated with a bunch of mean-spirited tripe, but wtf is that statement supposed to mean?
If you still believe that the graphite market is all about jumbo then you clearly have absolutely no idea. KNL has a solid flake distribution so it can provide traditional markets (ie. refractory and expandable) with its medium, large and jumbo flake, as well as penetrating the spherical (battery) market with its sub 180 micron (fine to large) flake.
Furthermore,
KNL is the only listed company who has sold large / jumbo flake for use in expandable graphite markets. This is reflected in the 10k tpa offtake with a European partner. Also, I have
already proven on multiple occasions that KNL's large & jumbo flake is in fact superior to the Chinese and Magnis for use in expandable graphite, plus it has ash melting points of 150-300 degrees higher than that of its Chinese competitors.
How is this poor quality? and how big do you think the market for jumbo flake is? Do you incorrectly assume that jumbo = good = needed for batteries ? FUN FACT: Batteries use smaller flake sizes.
Larger flake can be refashioned into higher-purity, smaller flake sizes through milling and flotation. But this can be expensive, onerous and still to this point in time, is unproven as an alternative in the case of MNS ... MNS still has NO offtakes, but guess who does ? .... syrah does! KNL does ...
KNL even has an MOU with Sojitz for supplying spherical graphite to the li-ion market. Because guess what
@sirrobbo ?? Their graphite
could also be upgraded to +99.9% if they shipped it off to Phil Hearse of BatteryLimits ... BKT is a few hundred metres up the same graphite schist ... do you really believe KNL made the wrong call or do you think that maybe, just maybe, BKT need to put a bit of marketing spin on Epanko North just to remain relevant and garner market attention?
Too many ill-informed comments still exist on HC's graphite boards even though there is a plethora of useful information on here for some people to learn.
KNL should not be constantly derided but should be viewed as a case study for those who are invested or believe in the graphite sector... the fate of many co's rest on the success of KNL's ability so secure debt funding... unless you wanna go full equity funded, Syrah Stylez
GLTAH, imho. chrs, r
ps. just noticed a cpl of poor comments have already been moderated so excuse my incredulous demeanor... slightly
(20min delay)