Ceylon Graphite Appoints the Founder and Major Shareholder Sasha Jacob as Interim CEO
Vancouver, Dec. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ceylon Graphite Corp. (TSX-V: CYL) (OTC: CYLYF) (FSE: CCY) ( the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the Company has appointed founder and major shareholder Sasha Jacob as interim CEO and Director. Mr. Jacob is a seasoned corporate executive with extensive operational experience in Sri Lanka and the experience and skill set required to lead Ceylon Graphite in working with local mining leadership, governmental bodies and graphite buyers as the Company approaches commercial production in the coming months. The Board of Directors has also accepted the resignation of interim Chief Executive Officer Don Baxter.
Mr. Jacob has a long history of successful business in Sri Lanka. He was a co-founder and principal shareholder of South Asia Energy Management Systems (SAEMS), formerly Sri Lanka’s largest independent hydropower producer. As the founder of Ceylon Graphite, he worked with local leadership to secure government support and licensing to establish the company on a solid footing, and as an advisor and principal investor, he has been a market leader in Canada as well as emerging markets in renewable energy finance, specialty metals and clean tech initiatives.
“Sasha is the right person at the right time to step in to oversee activity at the local level for the company, put the team in place to rapidly expand production capability. He is also ideally suited to work with automotive OEMs and battery manufacturers to secure Ceylon Graphite’s place in the Electric Vehicle battery ecosystem through offtake agreements with major manufacturers,” said Rita Theil, Chair of the Board of Directors. “We are grateful to Don for his hard work to put the mines on solid footing to move forward and thank him for his contributions as Interim CEO while the company was in transition.”
“Ceylon Graphite is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the global momentum in battery technology because of its high purity vein graphite and low carbon footprint that results from minimal processing being required,” said Jacob. “I believe its ESG benefits are second to none in the industry. As an advisor I’ve had multiple discussions with OEMs and battery technology companies eager to explore Ceylon’s ability to provide a steady supply of battery grade graphite for anodes with minimal environmental impact. I’m confident that I can bring the experience of working closely with the Sri Lankan government, shareholders, capital markets, and OEMs to make a substantial difference for all shareholders, local landowners, employees and stakeholders to drive this company forward at this exciting time in the Company’s development.”
Mr. Jacob is also CEO of Jacob Capital Management Inc., (a strategic advisor to Ceylon Graphite since November 15, 2017) the Chair of Maritime Launch Services (NEO:MAXQ), the Chair of Nature United (The Canadian affiliate of The Nature Conservancy), former Vice Chair of World Wildlife Fund Canada and a former Director of Plan International, Canada.
About Ceylon Graphite Corp.
Ceylon Graphite is a public company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, that is in the business of mining for graphite, and developing and commercializing innovative graphene and graphite applications and products. Graphite mined in Sri Lanka is known to be some of the purest in the world and has been confirmed to be suitable to be easily upgradable for a range of applications including the high-growth electric vehicle and battery storage markets as well as construction, healthcare and paints and coatings sectors. The Government of Sri Lanka has granted the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary Sarcon Development (Pvt) Ltd. an IML Category A license for its K1 mine and exploration rights in a land package of over 120km². These exploration grids (each one square kilometer in area) cover areas of historic graphite production from the early twentieth century and represent a majority of the known graphite occurrences in Sri Lanka.
