Anson Resources recently announced signing an MOU with China’s Shanxi Jianbang Group, to collaborate on steps towards commercialization of graphite and graphene products from Anson’s graphite.

The Shanxi Jianbang Group intends to conduct test work to assess the suitability of the Anson's graphene for use in Shanxi Jianbang’s rebar products; Testing will also be conducted to assess Anson’s graphite as a re-carburiser in its cast iron products and refractory materials.

Hexagon Resources, in collaboration with the University of Adelaide, has announced a breakthrough in producing graphene using a flake graphite sample from its McIntosh project. Results from this study indicate that Hexagon’s graphite has potential to be used for graphene production.

These graphene test work results will be sent to commercial graphene groups. Company representatives stated that "The key driver will be the capacity to produce commercial quantities of graphene. These exceptional test work results achieved from a bulk scale representative sample from McIntosh gives Hexagon that capacity.

Alabama Graphite Corporation declared its intention to leave the graphene business, until there is a major graphene-based commercial application which calls for significant amounts of graphene supply.

Scientists from the Institute of Physical Problems named after F. V. Lukin in Zelenograd, Russian Federation, discovered a previously unknown 3D nanostructure consisting of graphene sheets. The discovered nanostructure is a multilayer system of parallel hollow channels with quadrangular cross-section extending along the surface.

The thickness of the channel walls/facets of the nanostructure is about 1 nm, the width of the channel facets is approximately 25 nm, and the channel length reaches at least several hundreds of nanometers. This discovered nanostructure looks so extraordinary that it took some time to understand what it actually is. The structure was dramatically different from whatever had previously been observed on graphite.

Elcora Resources announced that it is working the development of a unique graphene production process, which can use a wide variety of graphite sources as raw material to produce consistent high quality graphene.

The Elcora system uses vertical integration in the mining, processing, and refining to optimize the graphite for the process. The company has developed a new industrial process, which it refers to as 'a trade secret', that is capable of transforming Elcora graphite into high quality graphene. The synthesis of the graphene itself does not depend on the graphite source as long as it is properly processed, meaning that the Elcora process can be used with a wide range of graphite sources.

In June 2014, we reported that Bora Bora Resources agreed to acquire up to 40% in Sri Lanka's RS Mines - a graphite miner and graphene oxide producer. Today RS Mines told us that that agreement was terminated (by RS Mines).

RS Mines plans to list on the Australian Stock Exchange directly (via a new company called Global Graphene Technologies). The listing will facilitate the development of the graphite resource (the Queen's Mine) in Sri Lanka - and also to initiate several graphene and graphite-related subsidiaries - mainly in the fields of energy storage devices and GO production.

Alabama Graphite announced the closing of a $2.875 million private placement. The company issues 14,375,000 units at $0.2 each, and each unit comprises of a common share and one-half of a common share purchase warrant ($0.35 exercise price).

The proceeds of this sale will be used for drilling, testing and assessments at its graphite mines and prospects, and in addition will be used for 'graphene initiatives'.

Western Mining Network has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire up to 51% in South Korean refined graphite and graphene carbon materials manufacturer Carbon Nano-Material Technology.

The acquisition is Western Mining’s first step in its long-term strategy to supplement its in-house technology and know-how with complementary third party technology and expertise in order to capture more of the carbon value chain. The alliance with WMN will both assure Carbon Nano-Material Technology of stable supplies of graphite and help it build its own manufacturing as well as research and development capacity. In turn WMN is extending its reach into the downstream sector and acquiring valuable technology and expertise to help it derive greater revenue and higher margins from its resource base rather than being merely a commodity supplier.

In March 2015, Alabama Graphite announced that it has found naturally occurring flake graphene at its Coosa Property in Alabama, USA. Now, the company declares that it has found additional types of naturally occurring graphene-based derivatives, namely few-layer graphene (2-5 layers), multi-layer graphene (2-10 layers), and graphite nanoplates (less than 100 nm thick) at the same property.

The materials were obtained using the same cost-effective process as was previously used by the Company to obtain graphene. These types of graphene-based derivatives are valued thanks to their unique electrical, optical, mechanical, and thermal properties. The company claims that The graphene-based derivative materials may hold promise for uses in exciting new applications such as thermal management, structures, coatings, power storage, transparent conductive films, conductive inks, structural electronics and sensors.

Lomiko Metals signed an agreement with MegaHertz Power Systems to license its power converter system designs. Lomiko will have rights to manufacture and sell three different system designs, and also acquired a pending supply contract with a Canadian LED system integrator.

In the longer-term, Lomiko will team up with MegaHertz to co-develop new power converter designs that use graphite and graphene-based devices. Graphene is expected to dramatically raise operating efficiencies and help reduce the energy waste for the Electronic equipment, Energy Storage and Automotive Industries.