Gratomic Announces Initiation of Benching Program at its Aukam Project in Namibia

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 9, 2022 / Gratomic Inc. ("Gratomic", "GRAT," or the "Company") (TSXV:GRAT) (OTCQX:CBULF) (FSE:CB82) announces that initial earth moving activities will commence on the 15^th of August at its Flagship Aukam project in Namibia. Benching typically consists of successively cutting berms alongside the mountain edge, which will steadily expose underground material at the same time ensuring the stability of the mountain structure. This process allows for the collection of graphite in stages as the plaforms are constructed on the Aukam mountain.

The Company estimates this phase of the program will take around 6 months and is projected to move an approximated 20,000 tonnes of material from the mountain to be stockpiled at the ROM (Run of Mine) pad of its Aukam processing facility.

Arno Brand, President & CEO, states, "It has been a labour intensive drilling campaign, which has solidified our confidence in the Aukam asset. The results of which have allowed us to intricately plan next steps, leading to the commencement of the benching program that is slated to begin on the 15^th of this month."

"This benching program sets a milestone for the Aukam site, as this is the first time we implement mining practices to bring product to the plant stockpile," says Armando Farhate COO & Head of Graphite Marketing & Sales.

Gratomic wishes to emphasize that no Preliminary Economic Analysis, Preliminary Feasibility Study or Feasibility Study has been completed to support any level of production. In fact, no mineral resources let alone mineral reserves demonstrating economic viability and technical feasibility, have been delineated on the Aukam property.

The Company is working towards completing a Feasibility Study (FS) on the Aukam Processing plant. The study, its recommendations, and their subsequent implementation, will provide conclusions and recommendation at a FS level of comfort relating to the scale up of the existing processing plant to a commercial scale processing facility capable of producing the desired concentrate grades and production rates.

Gratomic wishes to emphasize that the supply of graphite is conditional on Gratomic being able to bring the Aukam project into a production phase, and for any graphite being produced to meet certain technical and mineralization requirements.

Risk Factors

No mineral resources, let alone mineral reserves demonstrating economic viability and technical feasibility, have been delineated on the Aukam Property. The Company is not in a position to demonstrate or disclose any capital and/or operating costs that may be associated with the processing plant until the FS (Feasibility Study) is completed.