🕐17.02.12 - 23:27 Uhr

ONE HOT COMMODITY: FEB 23 VANCOUVER GRAPHITE CONFERENCE LINKS EXPERTS, INVESTORS, OPPORTUNITIES



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� One Hot Commodity: Feb 23 Vancouver Graphite Conference
Links Experts, Investors, Opportunities

By Greg Klein

�There�s no question about it�the street is really, really interested in graphite,� says OnPage Media principal Robert Bick. �It�s one of the most exciting investments of 2012. So we�re presenting this event to give investors, brokers and analysts a clear focus on a very hot sector.� The event in question is the Graphite Express-Conference taking place February 23, from 2 to 4 pm, at the Hotel Vancouver. Registration is free.

�We�ll feature keynote speaker Chris Berry, who knows the graphite space exceptionally well,� adds Bick. �Then we�ll have around eight five-minute presentations from companies who�ll explain what they�re doing in this exciting new field. That�ll be followed by a meet-and-greet session for attendees and participants to get together.�

Last December, saw the world�s first graphite conference presented in London by online journal Industrial Minerals. IM Sales Executive Simon Moores says, �We looked at new energy technologies and what commodities they use, and that�s why we picked out graphite.�

Moore reports that the attendees �want to know everything. They want to know the opinions of the companies, what demand�s going to do, what supply�s going to do, all the way through to new innovations, new technologies. It�s everything and anything because the industry�s so niche.�

Berry is a widely quoted writer and public speaker, co-author of Morning Notes and founder of House Mountain Partners, which studies the interplay of emerging and developed economies, the commodities market and junior resource stocks.

�What I�ll cover in my Vancouver presentation is an overview of the graphite market with an emphasis on demand-where it�s coming from, whether it�s sustainable and whether graphite really is a game-changer,� Berry promises.

The stuff is familiar to us as the so-called �lead� (actually graphite) in pencils. Although it�s considered to be the highest grade of coal, graphite is used most widely to create extremely heat-resistant refractories used in manufacturing, as a steel additive and as a component of products ranging from tennis rackets to brake linings.

Graphite�s future looks a little different: clean and green. The fuel cells, solar panels, pebble-bed nuclear reactors and lithium-ion batteries associated with alternative energy all depend on the carbon allotrope.

�One of the things that makes graphite interesting is that it�s considered a strategic or critical commodity,� says Berry. �You absolutely need it for a host of applications, not the least of which is lithium-ion batteries.� Despite their name, they use 10 to 20 times more graphite than lithium, and it�s large-flake, high-purity graphite. Lithium-ion batteries are becoming the standard for phones, cameras, MP3 players and, most important of all, electric vehicles. �This part of the sector is set to take off, with not only four-wheel EVs but also two-wheelers. The electric motorcycle and scooter markets are growing at a much, much faster rate than electric cars,� Berry says.

Traditional uses keep growing as well. China�s steel industry, for example, has been expanding 8% to 12% a year. That country is also poised to become the world leader in electric vehicles. While it produces most of the world�s graphite supply, China has restricted exports.

Production outside China is even lower than most people think, says Moores. �New data that we�ll release in our graphite special next week shows world production has gone down everywhere but Brazil, while China�s gone up. India has been very seriously overestimated. The world outside of China produces less than 20% of supply.�

Chris Berry and his father Michael have been researching this topic a long time. They�re trailblazers. They understand it extremely well so I look forward to hearing what Chris has to say �Ryan Fletcher

That situation need not continue indefinitely, Berry argues. �There�s a lot of graphite to be extracted outside of China. Now the price of graphite, especially large-flake high-purity graphite, has risen to the point where mining is economical outside of lower-wage countries. It�s going to take some time for the West to catch up, but the resources are there and demand is taking off.�

The future may hold even more promise for graphite. �There are tremendous advances being made in labs all over the world with graphite and graphene in particular,� Berry points out. �Graphene is a single atom layer of graphite which is 200 times stronger than steel, so it has huge implications. Imagine a material that�s one of the lightest on earth and one of the strongest, too. That�s a potentially explosive avenue of demand for graphene and, by extension, graphite.

�So my presentation will also highlight how innovation can drive demand. I don�t buy into hype, but amazing advances have been made. The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for experiments with graphene.�

Vancouver�s February 2 Graphite Express-Conference �should attract a good crowd of investors, brokers, money-managers, and others,� Berry continues. �I�ll explain the graphite market overall and then go over the supply chain from R&D in the labs all the way to end-users. I believe profitable investments can be made all along the supply chain, and I�ll explain where to look for those investments.�

Zimtu Capital TSXV:ZC director Ryan Fletcher has spent years following the graphite sector. �A lot of institutions, bankers, analysts and brokers are getting calls now about graphite, what to look for, what to avoid, how to deploy their capital,� he says. �People need answers. There�s a huge opportunity there, but people are trying to scramble really quickly to figure out what to do. Chris Berry and his father Michael have been researching this topic a long time. They�re trailblazers. They understand it extremely well, so I look forward to hearing what Chris has to say.�

Bick adds, �We�ll be following the Vancouver event with a Toronto conference this spring. In addition, Resource Clips will publish a newsletter specifically about graphite. It�s essential that people who are interested in this space keep up with all the ongoing developments. And there�s no better way to get started than to hear Chris Berry and the presentations from exploration and mining companies at our two-hour conference.�

The Graphite Express Conference takes place February 23, from 2 to 4 pm, at the Hotel Vancouver. For more information and free registration, click here.


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