THUNDER BAY – MINING – Zenyatta Ventures Ltd. (“Zenyatta” or “Company”) (TSXV: ZEN) has announced the appointment of James Jordan, P.Eng., to the position of Project Manager with initial responsibility for overseeing all metallurgical functions related to the Company’s upcoming pilot plant.
James Jordan graduated from Queen’s University in 1983 with a degree in Mining Engineering (Mineral Processing) and has over 30 years’ of experience that covers a full range of mineral extraction processes including iron ore, industrial minerals, precious, base metals and zinc refining. For the past five years, he has held senior management roles with Polyus Gold and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. Prior to moving into mine operations management, James spent 20 years in the consulting engineering field in a variety of roles. In 2006, he was appointed by Hatch Ltd. as Director Mineral Processing to build the mineral processing group in Mississauga. Prior to that he was a project manager and metallurgical engineer for SNC Lavalin Inc. He has experience supervising studies at all levels; from scoping to full feasibility for an extensive cross section of mining and mineral processing projects that includes industrial minerals and managing a feasibility study for the expansion of a talc processing plant. James’ experience is broad based and includes senior level management responsibilities, strategic planning and operations management.
The purposes for the scaled up pilot plant are:
- to create additional high purity graphite for the many potential customers requesting additional material for testing; and,
- to further define the most efficient process flow sheet for the recovery of high purity product during the pre-feasibility
The end user testing is designed to further qualify the high purity Albany graphite material for applications such as lithium ion batteries, fuel cells, powder metallurgy and graphene production for composite materials like concrete.
Aubrey Eveleigh, President and CEO stated, “We are very pleased to attract a professional of James Jordan’s caliber to our existing management team. Mr. Jordan is an individual with a strong technical and leadership background, especially related to mineral processing. He will play a very important role during this next stage of Zenyatta’s growth strategy.”
Zenyatta continues to develop its rare Albany graphite deposit in Ontario, Canada. The Company’s highly crystalline graphite deposit is a volcanic style rather than the typical and abundant sedimentary style of graphite deposits. Albany is the only and largest graphite deposit of its kind under development in the world. It is situated 30 km north of the Trans-Canada Highway, power line and natural gas pipeline near the communities of Constance Lake First Nation and Hearst. A rail line is located 70 km away with an all-weather road approximately 10 km from the graphite deposit. The world trend is to develop products for technological applications that need extraordinary performance using ultra-high purity graphite powder at an affordable cost. Albany graphite can be upgraded with very good crystallinity without the use of aggressive acids (hydrofluoric) or high temperature thermal treatment therefore having an environmental advantage over other types of upgraded high purity graphite material.
The outlook for the global graphite market is very promising with demand growing rapidly from new applications. It is now considered one of the more strategic elements by many leading industrial nations, particularly for its growing importance in high technology manufacturing and in the emerging “green” industries such as electric vehicle components. The application for graphitic material is constantly evolving due to its unique chemical, electrical and thermal properties. It maintains its stability and strength under temperatures in excess of 3,000°C and is very resistant to chemical corrosion. It is also one of the lightest of all reinforcing elements and has high natural lubricating abilities. Some of these key physical and chemical properties make it critical to modern industry.
Zenyatta also announces the grant of 1,700,000 options to directors, officers, employees and consultants at an exercise price of $0.72 for a period of 5 years.
Mr. Aubrey Eveleigh, P.Geo., Zenyatta’s President and CEO, is the “Qualified Person” for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed, prepared and supervised the preparation of the technical information contained in this news release. To find out more on Zenyatta Ventures Ltd., please visit website www.zenyatta.ca or contact the Company at info@zenyatta.ca or Tel. 807-346-1660.