TLG, Haydale, ZEN and PPE, page-3

I looked at ZEN when it started passing rumors about going into mask production. The thing that makes me hold off is the margins and the relative benefit of the masks.

When COVID boomed in march 2020 the world rushed to make masks, we didnt have enough of them, we made our own inferior products, at home. The market was good for a while, but the market saturated. Even in march of 2021 as COVID cases were on the ebb in the united states, mask producers who set up shop in the US were downramping business, shuttering hastily filled factories, laying off workers. It even hit the U.S. national news.

Through all this, what is the opportunity in graphene masks, which flat-out are more expensive to make than regular surgical masks? We can claim that 1c of added graphene is needed, but there are additional application/finishing steps I have to imagine. Maybe after 5 years of trial running some board of surgeons would designate the new graphene masks superior, and regulations would change. This would compel people to buy the more expensive product. But for now? Surgical masks work for doctors, they are cheap/disposable; they are the existing tech. The uncertainty, lack of proven sales against cheaper competitors (in china, labor costs/materials/etc), and lack of proven backup plans for graphene turned me away from ZENYF. At first glance medical graphene solves a problem that is small, with a more expensive solution.

Of course, amid my musings the stock popped 50% from when I first monitored it, 100% on the year. What can I say, the market is irrational. Or I am full of hot air.

I think graphene will hit it big in concrete, maybe in shipping coatings, and in other building materials as a cheap additive. My personal favorite, if it got really cheap and really large volume, would be in power lines, and hoo boy there are a lot of power lines that could be replaced. People will want cheap graphene one day, sooner or later. Probably still 5 years out, but it is coming.