Ceylon Graphite Corp. announced that it has completed the first full cell testing using spherodized vein graphite materials in commercial size pouch cells following automotive "Original Equipment Manufacturer" (OEM) standards. Ceylon Graphite's vein graphite anode material exceeded comparable anodes made with industry standard commercial synthetic graphite and were able to achieve excellent reproducibility in the tests carried out from 2021 through to 2023.

This is the first time that spherodized vein graphite materials were tested in a lithium-ion battery full cell. The tests were conducted at a leading global, independent test facility, Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), part of University of Warwick's Energy Innovation Centre. Repetitive testing of Ceylon Graphite's unique natural vein graphite material has achieved reproducible outstanding performance results compared to industry standard synthetic graphite: Discharge capacity of 161 mAh/g, as compared to the published industry standard of 153 mAh/g; Small loss in capacity over 120 cycles.

Company believe that the impressive performance of vein graphite material is due to: High crystallinity of vein graphite originated highest C% in nature (above 90%); In-house purification technology (pending patent) without using any HF (Hydro fluoric) acids; Ceylon Graphite proprietary spherodizing and formulation technology; Ceylon Graphite has a mine to battery strategy that will maximize the value of high- grade Sri Lankan vein graphite by transforming it into anode graphite for the rapidly growing lithium-ion battery market. These results provide the opportunity to: Collaborate with potential customers looking for sustainable high-quality anode materials; Position Ceylon Graphite in the Li-Anode graphite market and achieve potential near term sales. Latest results for the Full Cells: The cells were tested in a full cell system at a rate of C/5, meaning 5 hours to charge and 5 hours to discharge.

Extended cycling exhibited reversible charge/discharge behaviour with less than 15% overall capacity loss over 120 cycles. The C/5 stable cycling gives an average reversible capacity of 161 mAh/g for the best-performing vein graphite material, compared to 153 mAh/g for standard synthetic graphite measured at the same rate. The cell showed very good stability to cycling at various rates, including at very high current density.

The battery could recover the capacity after cycling back at a low rate, indicating high-rate capability. The outstanding performance of Ceylon Graphite's vein graphite material against current commercially used synthetic graphite is due to the high crystallinity of Sri Lankan vein graphite and the near- perfect morphology of the coated spherodized anode material produced by proprietary processing and spheroidizing technology of Ceylon Graphite Technologies. The results prove the suitability of material for lithium-ion battery anodes for either stand alone or possible blending with synthetic graphite.

The HF-free in-house electro thermal purification process is very gentle and did not do any damage to the crystal structure shown in XRD, unlike the HF-based process conventionally used in industry. Conclusion: The unique characteristics of Sri Lankan vein graphite combined with proprietary processing technologies produces a Li-ion battery anode with significantly higher power and energy as shown by the results of tests carried out at WMG. In addition, company believe that the energy consumption of the end to end process of producing battery grade anode material from vein graphite is the lowest, relative to synthetic and flake graphite because the vein graphite from Sri Lanka does not require extensive primary processing, due to the highest in situ grade in the world with above 90% carbon purity out of the ground.

The test results and Ceylon Graphite's unique position in the market create optionality for scale-up development, commercial partnerships and sales of advanced materials. Ceylon Graphite's significant resource positions and energy products R&D (Ceylon Graphite Technologies (UK)) will allow the company to evolve into a stand-alone battery technology company, with exclusive access to unique and high-performance battery grade graphite at lower cost, sourced from wholly owned deposits in Sri Lanka.