Interview with Blair Way, President, CEO of Flinders Resources Limited (TSXV: FDR): Becoming a One Stop Shop for All the Customers in the Green Energy Industry
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By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 7/28/2016
Flinders Resources Limited (TSXV: FDR) is a European graphite producer that owns 100% of the Woxna Graphite Mine and high purity graphite production facility in Sweden. Flinders Resources is currently finalizing its merger with Tasman Metals (TSXV: TSM) that owns Nora Karr rare earths deposit. We learned from Blair Way, President, CEO of Flinders Resources, that once the merger is complete, the company will undergo a rebranding to reflect the fact that they are working beyond just being a graphite company, but rather a one stop shop for all the customers in the green energy industry. At the same time Flinders is building relationships with potential customers in Asia and Europe, as well as actively looking for other commodities that they can add to their commodity menu.
Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-chief of Metals News interviewing Blair Way, who is president, CEO of Flinders Resources. Would you like to update our readers/investors on what's happening at Flinders? I know a lot of new things are going on, as far as your graphite product, and now a potential merger/ acquisition of Tasman.
Mr. Blair Way: We're working through a merger with Tasman Metals, and if all goes according to plan, it will take place in the near future. It's really about building a new company, by combining these two companies. The new company will be working towards accommodating the sort of shift that we're seeing in global energy demand, from fossil fuels to renewable type energy sources. We want to be the go to, or the one stop company to be able to provide solutions from the mine to the market. We've experimented with our graphite, in order to gain the most value on one of our resources, we need to do more than just mine it. We need to take it right down to evaluate that process, which is what we've been doing with the likes of graphene, and our high purity spherical graphite projects.
As we speak to customers, they certainly express an interest in our ability to be able to provide more than just graphite. We were the graphite company that won the race to production, but in some regards the customers are still not fully established. Flinders Resources is certainly ahead of the pack in the graphite space in regards to being able to accommodate these new demands we are seeing, and everyone is talking about. The likes of graphite and lithium and cobalt, and the other various commodities that are gaining a lot of attention, right now, in the mobile and big storage's, is how we see our positioning of the company, so that we can accommodate the customers, better. That's certainly has been a trend that we are seeing elsewhere, with other companies, and also in our communications with our customers.
Dr. Allen Alper: Could you tell me what will differentiate Flinders from other companies?
Mr. Blair Way: Certainly, one of the big differentiators is we are a producer of graphite, so we have a graphite mine, and we have a graphite processing facility. We have a flow sheet that is designed in order to produce high purity graphite for the battery manufacturers. That's quite a big differentiator. Also we have the management team behind us to be able to achieve the same degree of accommodation in other commodities, having done it once in graphite. All indications are certainly there that we are able to do it again.
Tasman Metals’ Nora Karr project is one of the more impressive rare earths projects around, and we are proud to have that within our assets. That aligns with the green energy process, a demand that we are seeing for electric motors, the magnets, and the other specialty materials that go into that part of the green energy growth that we are seeing.
Dr. Allen Alper: I know you are planning on expanding your graphite facility. Could you tell me what your plans are for 2016, going into '17; what you are going to do with mining, and also for beneficiating and adding value to the graphite?
Mr. Blair Way: Our Woxna graphite facility is a production-ready facility, able to provide feed to a high purity flow sheet. We are working with end users on the details of both what and when they require it. Presently in Europe there are no customers in any graphite, or battery cell manufacturing. The customers are in Japan, China, and Korea, and we are in discussions with them to establish relationships. The next steps will be to enable our facility in Sweden to produce our high purity products to align with the battery manufacturer.
At the same time, we are talking with future customers, for cell manufacturing in Europe, who also have a great interest in our ability to supply them. In the meantime, during 2017 we'll be working in the field, looking for other commodities that we can add to our commodity menu, probably, for the customers we're speaking with. Because if a customer manufacturers battery cells, they're not only interested in graphite, but in cobalt, in lithium, and a myriad of other elements. So we may be able to become part of their supply chain. That’s a big part of what we are working on, right now.
Obviously, during that 2016, 2017 we're working to finalize the merger with Tasman Metals, and we will go through a re-branding process, so investors will understand our business model better. We are working beyond just being a graphite company, but to be a one stop shop for our customers to provide them with the commodities they are looking for, for their green energy.
Dr. Allen Alper: Very good. Could you tell us what the time table will be with Tasman?
Mr. Blair Way: Certainly. We hope the merger will be completed by the end of summer. We'll have a relaunch with our re-branded company, so investors better understand our company’s new direction, from being just a graphite company. We always had the lithium ion battery cell manufacturers as a market. Now we’ll pursue this more aggressively, and build those relationships with end users, both in Europe and also in Asia. Because once we produce value added products, they can be shipped anywhere in the world and it's still profitable.
Certainly, the Tasman Metals merger will happen. By the end of summer we'll be working on developing our value added graphite project. Also we will be looking at identifying other commodities within the green energy realm. We’ll be advancing our portable, and mobile and fixed storage energy solutions.
Dr. Allen Alper: Could you tell me the primary reasons our high-net-worth investors, should invest in your company?
Mr. Blair Way: The main reason is we’ve demonstrated throughout the highs and the lows that we're consistent. We say what we do, and we do what we say. Those are important differentiators and I think that is what investors look for. We are working to build a sustainable company in an industry that has a huge potential for growth. That's a good building block for a successful company. That's our expectation. If we build a company that can benefit from this emerging sector, and be one of the leaders in it, because of our sensible approach, I believe investors will see the benefit of that.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds very good.
http://www.flindersresources.com/
Head Office
Flinders Resources Ltd
1305 - 1090 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC Canada V6E 3V7
Investor Relations
Phone: +1 604 685 9316
info@flindersresources.com
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