I was a long term shareholder and strong supporter of alabama graphite, however because of their lackluster disappointing and rushed out PEA I got out of the stock. The PEA was lacking crucial details and did more harm to the company than anything else, hopefully they could make a better job with their feasibility study, they need to produce CSPG with a pilot plant to prove their concept, send samples to potential customers and finish the design of the plant in the feasibility study.
Other than that, the low stripping ratio / at surface/oxidized soft graphitic ore is an advantage (low cost of excavation) however it is challenging to recover high percentage of graphite at a 2.5% head grade. When you consider that Syrah has a 20% head grade (coupled with the same other advantages Alabama graphitic ore has), it is simply impossible to compete on a cost basis for graphite concentrate run of mine (Alabama has higher percentage of large flakes than syrah though), and that is the reason why they are targeting spherical and value added products. Producing and selling concentrate is a lost case for them. Hopefully they succeed, but they need to raise money for the pilot plant.
