Zenyatta Provides Graphene Research Funding Update
Thunder Bay, November 22, 2018 - Zenyatta Ventures Ltd. (TSXV: ZEN) ("Zenyatta" or "Company") congratulates Prof. Aicheng Chen at the University of Guelph for being recently named as a new Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in electrochemistry and nanoscience, a title that included an award of $1.4 million over the next seven years. Zenyatta has been collaborating with Prof. Chen and his team since 2015 and the research has been funded by two Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada ("NSERC") Collaborative Research and Development (CRD) grants and an Ontario Centres of Excellence Voucher for Innovation and Productivity II (OCE VIP II) grant. Zenyatta is proud to be an industrial partner with Prof. Chen and his team and looks forward to continued collaborations.
Zenyatta continues to attract talented and creative research partners along with research funding through federal and provincial government programs. Under the NSERC Engage program, any Intellectual Property (IP) that is developed by the two projects will go to the Company. Zenyatta will continue to identify, recruit and sign on more research partners in order to increase the market potential of graphene. This will permit the company to develop its own market demand for Zenyatta graphene and also develop its vertical integration as well as adding more IP to its incubator program.
Zenyatta is also pleased to announce that the NSERC Engage committee has granted awards to Professors Eugenia Kumacheva and Michael Pope to study the use of Zenyatta graphene quantum dots and graphene in water filtration and next generation solid-state batteries applications, respectively.
Prof. Kumacheva is a Full Professor of Chemistry at the University of Toronto and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Advanced Polymer Materials. Her research interests span the fields of fundamental and applied polymers science, nanotechnology, microfluidics, and interface chemistry and has led to over 250 journal publications and over 20 patents. Prof. Kumacheva and her team propose to develop a nanocolloidal graphene-derived material which has a tunable pore size and can purify water of toxic heavy metal ions. These hydrogels have the potential of being scalable, robust and recyclable and provide a highly effective water purification and remediation solution.
Prof. Pope has more than 11 years of experience developing supercapacitors, Li-ion and Li-Sulphur batteries using graphene-based materials at Princeton University during his PhD studies, in industry at Vorbeck Materials Corp. and as an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo. His work has led to more than 23 journal publications and 7 patent applications describing such technologies. Prof. Pope and his team's goal is to produce solid-state battery anodes by wrapping silicon particles with a protective layer of graphene and interfacing this graphene-wrapped powder with emerging, high-conductivity, solid-state electrolytes.
Mr. Peter Wood, P.Eng, P.Geo., President and COO of Zenyatta, 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.
For further information:
Dr. Francis Dubé, Co-CEO & Head of Business Development and Technology
Tel: +1 (289) 821-2820
Email: fdube@zenyatta.ca
About Zenyatta
Zenyatta's Albany Graphite Project hosts a large and unique quality deposit of highly crystalline graphite. Independent labs in Japan, UK, Israel, USA and Canada have demonstrated that Zenyatta's Albany Graphite/Naturally PureTM easily converts (exfoliates) to graphene using a variety of simple mechanical and chemical methods. The deposit is located in northern Ontario just 30km north of the Trans-Canada Highway, near the communities of Constance Lake First Nation and Hearst. Important nearby infrastructure include hydro-power, natural gas pipeline, a rail line 50 km away and an all-weather road just 10 km from the deposit.
To find out more on Zenyatta Ventures Ltd., please visit our website at www.zenyatta.ca. A copy of this press release and all material documents with respect of the Company may be obtained on Zenyatta's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.ca.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward looking information and Zenyatta cautions readers that forward looking information is based on certain assumptions and risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations of Zenyatta included in this news release. This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements", which often, but not always, can be identified by the use of words such as "potential", "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". These statements are based on information currently available to Zenyatta and Zenyatta provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements with respect to Zenyatta's future plans, objectives or goals, to the effect that Zenyatta or management expects a stated condition or result to occur, including the expected uses for graphite or graphene in the future, and the future uses of the graphite from Zenyatta's Albany deposit. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of metallurgical processing, ongoing exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of Zenyatta's mineral properties, and Zenyatta's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as, but are not limited to: failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves; the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results; the inability to identify target markets and satisfy the product criteria for such markets; the inability to complete a prefeasibility study; the inability to enter into offtake agreements with qualified purchasers; delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals; political risks; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates; fluctuations in commodity prices; delays in the development of projects; capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry; and those risks set out in Zenyatta's public documents filed on SEDAR. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of Zenyatta's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on Zenyatta's forward-looking statements. Although Zenyatta believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Zenyatta disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.
