Saint Jean said its new simulations predict that high purity graphite can be separated in the first pass through the air classifier which reduces the number of successive passes required for achieving purification.

The company is currently building a working prototype of this new air classifier design for further prove out. The test feedstock will be supplied from a high grade ore sample recently extracted from the Montpellier region of Quebec.

Saint Jean also announced today that in conjunction with the University of Western Ontario, has successfully demonstrated, in a laboratory environment, a graphene-based DNA sensor, through integrating single strand DNA conjugated graphene quantum dots. Efforts are now underway to build and demonstrate a graphene-based DNA sensor that will be tested at Saint Jean facilities.

V-Bond Lee, Chief Commercialization Officer of Saint Jean states: "I am very pleased with the way things are progressing with all our projects. We are building a core team of technical experts that are highly focused on achieving results. I remain very excited about our future technology roadmap and am confident that we can challenge industry norms in energy storage, critical battery mineral processing and carbon based sensing products".

The company also announced the completion of a prototype battery assembly line. Equipment is currently in transit to the Guelph location and is scheduled to arrive by mid September.