Zenyatta Ventures has announced a program for a scaled-up production method of its graphite to graphene oxide for applications like water treatment, sensors, supercapacitors and Li‐ion batteries. The program is receiving grant funding from the Ontario Centres for Excellence (OCE) to allow a team of scientists at Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada to carry out this research.

The OCE funding helps established Ontario‐based companies develop, implement and commercialize technical innovations by supporting partnerships with publicly‐funded post‐secondary institutions. The focus of the research work will be on scaling up production methods for Zenyatta’s graphite to GO, a first critical step towards commercialization of the technology. The OCE VIP II $100,000 grant will be administered over two years and Zenyatta will be contributing $50,000 in cash and $60,000 in‐kind support to the project.

Zenyatta Ventures has announced that the next phase to test a graphene-enhanced concrete admixture is progressing through their Collaboration Agreement with Larisplast, an Israeli business that specializes in the field of concrete admixtures.

The 10 kg market sample of high-purity graphite that was sent to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel (BGU) will allow for the testing and optimization of a much larger volume of concretes. Zenyatta and Larisplast have both received grant funding from the Canada-Israel Industrial R&D Foundation under the Ontario-Israel Collaboration.

Australia-based technology minerals company, Talga Resources, recently announced impressive initial concrete prototype strength results from trials undertaken at the commercial concrete/cement laboratory of Betotech Baustofflabor in Germany.

Graphene and graphite enhanced cement and concrete are key priority product targets for Talga. Concrete test prototypes were formulated with Talga graphene and graphite additives combined with a European industry cement and aggregate mixture. Results from the trial showed significant increases, about 26% in flexural strength and 14% in compressive strength, using Talga materials over reference concrete at 28 days cure time.

MIT researchers have found that a flake of graphene, when brought in close proximity with two superconducting materials, can "borrow" some of those materials' superconducting qualities. When graphene is sandwiched between superconductors, its electronic state changes dramatically, even at its center.

The researchers showed that graphene's electrons, formerly behaving as individual particles, instead pair up in "Andreev states"—a fundamental electronic configuration that allows a conventional, non-superconducting material to carry a "supercurrent," an electric current that flows without dissipating energy.

Researchers at the Cambridge Graphene Centre at the University of Cambridge, UK, have designed a method for producing high quality conductive graphene inks with high concentrations. Conductive inks are useful for a range of applications, including printed and flexible electronics, transistors, and more.

The method uses ultrahigh shear forces in a microfluidization process to exfoliate graphene flakes from graphite. The process is said to convert 100% of the starting graphite material into usable flakes for conductive inks, avoiding the need for centrifugation and reducing the time taken to produce a usable ink. The research also describes optimization of the inks for different printing applications, as well as giving detailed insights into the fluid dynamics of graphite exfoliation.

Zenyatta Ventures has announced the delivery of 10 kilograms of high-purity graphite to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Larisplast in Israel for the start of the next phase of testing of a pilot plant scale program. The main objective of the pilot plant in Israel is to further test a new concrete admixture containing Albany derived graphene but with a much larger volume of concrete. It shown that Zenyatta’s Albany graphite is easily converted to graphene with significantly higher yields of graphene nano-particles than any other natural graphite types that were tested at BGU.

Zenyatta, BGU and Larisplast have received grant funding from the Canada-Israel Industrial R&D Foundation under the Ontario-Israel Collaboration Program for this pilot scale test. Upon successful completion of testing, an Agreement between the Parties contemplates the formation of a new corporation (Newco) jointly owned (50/50) by Zenyatta and Larisplast for the purposes of marketing this new specialized admixture product. Zenyatta would be the exclusive provider of purified graphite to Newco and any other party working with Larisplast on this technology.

Zenyatta Ventures has announced the signing of a contribution agreement with the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC‐IRAP).

Zenyatta will receive technical advisory services and a financial contribution of up to $350,000 from NRC‐IRAP to support Zenyatta’s metallurgical program designed to provide data for the start of a pre‐feasibility phase on its Albany graphite project.

Mason Graphite, a Canadian mining company focused on the exploration and development of its 100%-owned Lac Gueret graphite project, announced that it closed a $28.8 million private placement.

The proceedings of this offering will be mostly used to fund the development of the Lac Gueret graphite mine - but around $1 million CAD will also be used to increase Mason Graphite's equity in Group NanoXplore.

Zenyatta Ventures recently announced that it has signed a collaboration agreement with Larisplast, an Israeli business that specializes in the field of concrete admixtures. Zenyatta and Larisplast have both received grant funding from the Canada-Israel Industrial R&D Foundation under the Ontario-Israel Collaboration Program to further test the effect of adding graphene generated from Zenyatta’s Albany graphite to concrete on a pilot scale. Now, after a successful phase 1, the companies announce the beginning of phase 2.

Upon successful completion of pilot plant testing, the agreement contemplates the formation of a new corporation ('Newco') jointly owned (50/50) by Zenyatta and Larisplast for the purposes of marketing this new specialized admixture product globally. Zenyatta would be the exclusive provider of purified graphite to Newco and any other party working with Larisplast on this technology.

Zenyatta Ventures recently announced receiving grant funding from the Canada‐Israel Industrial R&D Foundation (CIIRDF) for the Production of Nano‐Graphite‐Reinforced Cement Admixture under the Ontario‐Israel Collaboration Program (OICP).

Zenyatta, Larisplast, Ben‐Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and B.G. Negev Technologies (BGN) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding while on the Ontario Business Mission to Israel. Each partner will have a unique technical contribution in a scaled up program from the successful bench scale testing. This new program will have subtotal costs of $207,002 CAD (Zenyatta) and $322,129 CAD (Larisplast) for a total of $529,131 CAD of which 50% will be refunded under this OICP grant.