First Day of Dealings and Green Economy Mark

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14 December 2020

Tirupati Graphite plc ('Tirupati' or the 'Company')

First Day of Dealings and Green Economy Mark Accreditation

Tirupati Graphite plc, the fully integrated, revenue generative, specialist graphite and graphene producer with operations in Madagascar and India, is pleased to announce that at 08.00 today its ordinary shares commenced trading on the Main Market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange plc ('LSE') under the ticker TGR ('Admission').  As part of the Admission process, the Company has raised £6 million before expenses through a Placing, Subscription and Intermediaries Offer of 13,333,334 new ordinary shares at an issue price of 45p each, implying a market capitalisation of circa £33.64 million on Admission. 

The Company is also pleased to confirm that it has received the LSE's Green Economy Mark, which recognises companies that derive 50% or more of their total annual revenues from products and services that contribute to the global green economy.

Optiva Securities Limited is Broker to the Company, and PrimaryBid Limited was Advisor to the Intermediaries Offer.

Overview

·    Revenue generative, integrated natural and specialty graphite and graphene company

o  Primary mining and processing in Madagascar

o  Hi-tech specialty graphite processing in India

o  Graphene manufacture and application research in India

·    LSE Green Economy Mark accredited with established green technologies contributing to a low-carbon economy and giving it focus from the ever-growing global ESG investment community

·    Defined development plans to advance its multi-asset/jurisdiction strategy, establishing businesses with industry leading capex intensity and lowest quartile costs, high earning potential and positioning itself as a comprehensive contributor in the flake graphite value chain

·    Highly experienced team with 100+ years of collective experience in graphite, requisite technical capabilities and commercial expertise needed to develop the projects and fast-track delivery of the planned development

·    Core Company principles focused on creating value for the planet, employees, local communities, and shareholders

Shishir Poddar, CEO of Tirupati Graphite, said, "We are delighted to commence trading as the LSE's first pure play graphite producer.  With this milestone reached we have a very exciting opportunity to continue to expand our primary mining and processing operations in Madagascar and downstream value-add operations in India and become a global leader in the graphite market, as well as offering additional upside through our graphene development. 

"The successful £6 million fundraising, which saw key institutions and retail investors join our share register, highlights the qualities of our business being revenue generative with high quality resource assets, proven low-cost operations, robust economics, supportive jurisdictions, access to end markets, and a team with a track record of delivery in the graphite space.  Additionally, our green credentials should not be ignored: we use cleaner processing technologies than any other business in the space and our products support numerous green applications focused on delivering sustainability targets worldwide.  It is in recognition of this that we have been awarded the prestigious LSE Green Economy Mark, which we are incredibly proud of.

"In terms of market dynamics, graphite itself is a special material with unique properties with over 150 applications, including its key role in EV batteries, which is why flake graphite has been classified as a critical raw material by both the US and the EU.  Graphene is equally extraordinary; its amazing strength, conductivity and flexibility amongst other properties, is set to revolutionise the world of advanced materials with vast amounts of technological developments happening across a range of sectors and applications including fast-charging and foldable phones, consumer wearables, supercapacitors, energy storage, aerospace, automotive, defence, medical, high-end sensors, desalination and filtration; the list is virtually unlimited. We believe a number of these are on the cusp of mass commercialisation over the next few years and we plan to be at the forefront of some of these potentially world changing, technological advancements. 

"The graphite market has already risen 8-10% in the last quarter and we believe this upward trajectory will continue as demand continues to rise. Given the high volume of activity and steady stream of news ahead for the Company, I am confident that we will deliver value to shareholders and look forward to having a regular dialogue with the London market."

Further information on the Company, including the prospectus published in conjunction with Admission, can be found on the Company's website: www.tirupatigraphite.co.uk.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

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For further information, please visit https://www.tirupatigraphite.co.uk/ or contact:

Notes

Tirupati Graphite Plc is a revenue-generative, multi-asset, multi-jurisdictional, fully integrated producer and developer of high-grade natural flake graphite, speciality graphite and graphene, which captures the entire value chain.  With a unique set of properties, graphite has diverse applications with multiple growth streams and graphene forms the new generation of 2D materials. In support of this, the Company places a special emphasis on "green" applications, including renewable energy generation, energy storage and composites, and is committed to ensuring its operations are sustainable as well.

The Company's operations include primary mining and processing in Madagascar, where the Company operates two key projects, Sahamamy and Vatomina; 3,000 tonnes p/a of high-quality flake graphite concentrate with up to 96% purity is currently being produced and sold to customers globally, and this is planned to increase to 81,000 tonnes p/a by 2024 as per the Company's modular medium-term development plan.

In India, the Company processes and produces speciality graphite for use in hi-tech applications like lithium-ion batteries, fire retardants and composites. Its specialty graphite processing operations include the 1,200 tonnes p/a Patalganga Project, which was successfully commissioned in July 2019 to manufacture and sell CARBOFLAMEX®, a trademarked fire-retardant expandable graphite product.  At the next stage of development, Patalganga shall further be expanded to 4,800 tonnes p/a capacity with capabilities to also produce high purity and micronised graphite, so increasing market and product reach by 2021. The Company has developed unique green processing technologies for manufacturing these advanced materials.

After establishing itself in the specialty graphite markets through the Patalganga Project, an additional 24,000 tonnes p/a specialty graphite processing facility is to be established in two 12,000 tonnes p/a phases.  The plant will produce expandable, high purity, micronised and spherical graphite.  The west coast of India has been chosen as the location and a detailed feasibility study has been completed.  Tirupati is also in the process of establishing the Tirupati Graphene and Mintech Research Centre, a state-of-the-art R&D centre focussed on producing graphene, developing its applications, and further providing environmentally friendly technologies consultancy for mineral processing.  Land acquisition is in progress in Bhubaneswar, India, and a detailed feasibility study completed.