U396...solid comments as test facilities or independents are not...

U396...solid comments as test facilities or independents are not the purchasers of the graphite flake, and only customers are the ones that can make bold statements as they are the ones that will generate revenue for a company.

Lab samples and pilot plants are indicators of a potential concentrate production, but until actual plants are commercially producing, customers will ONLY move forward with supply or sales agreements (take or pay) once the commercial production is qualified.

There are no "offtakes" in natural flake graphite as ALL graphite concentrate has to be qualified. No customer with a critical or sensitive application will sign a true offtake as there are significant financial penalties and risks with an offtake. Offtakes apply to natural resources such as oil, coal, natural gas, gold, silver, or copper as well as lithium deposits as these resources can be financed sight unseen.

Flake graphite has many nuances, varying metallurgical attributes, variance is mesh sizes from fines to coarse flake as well as performance variances with a wide variety of chemicals and processes. For example, it would make little sense for a fire retardant customer to sign a legally binding offtake, with financial penalties, with a natural graphite resource that has not commercially produced viable graphite concentrate for evaluation.

The are many regulatory requirements on any fire retardant product company and it would be a catastrophic risk to commit to any contract based on non commercial graphite samples. Producing lab scale or a third party pilot plant samples is not indicative of the actual commercial plant to be constructed in the future. Too many variances in water, reagents, ore composition, etc. that can be replicated by a lab or pilot plant.