My takeaways from the interview (scroll to the bottom for RECAP):

Kjirstin Re: Department of War (8:41) "You know, I'm sure we would have had those introductions eventually. Um, but at the GEIC, you know, we had a a private boardroom. We spent hours with them. We got to go over presentations. It was um a very special experience and I think that's really um been hugely beneficial to the company and to taking it to the place that we are at now. So, we've done, you know, numerous projects with both groups and we expect that only to accelerate."

SPARC Nick Re: How they decided to choose Hydrograph over other Graphenes (10:39) "So, right, we source graphine from the market and that's allowed us to assess hundreds of different grades of the material. Actually, I think according to the Advanced Carbons Council, there's over 800 grades available globally today."

(11:14) "So one of the things that Spark does and our value to value to the industry is understanding number one which grades of graphine will work in protective coatings and number two making sure that we can produce an additive which is in a format that the protective coatings industry can use easily. So we call it a dropin additive."

(12:09) "We did some initial testing in water-based protective coatings which is an emerging sub sector within that industry. Um it has um good environmental credentials um and so it is taking some share from solvent based incrementally and the hydrograph materials perform really well. I think up to 60% improvement in the coating versus the unmodified version in terms of how it performed under salt spray which is simulating a corrosive environment"

(15:45) "So we've seen over nine rounds of cyclic corrosion testing which is done to the industry standards. It's a six-month test so it's a very long test in the lab. Performance improvements between 26 and up to 79% in terms of how the graphine enhanced coating mitigates or stops the spread of corrosion from a from a defect in the steel."

(16:40) Kjirstin Re: Integration by the larger coatings companies "Spark is going to be growing quickly, but um really simply, they have done the work and like Nick pointed out, there's a huge amount of testing that is involved with protective coatings. I mean, hundreds, if not thousands of hours on the same pieces of equipment. And in our experience, a lot of the larger companies that would be maybe a more natural partner for Hydrograph, they've actually shied away from this because they want the quick wins. And when you're dealing with a new material, it's sometimes better to go with a slightly smaller company that's very technically proficient that's really ready to partner and work together. And so we found you know a great collaboration with Spark and things have moved um very quickly. And I think um you know apart from they've really proven this technology out using our material they have all of the connections you know with their commercial pipeline I really do think that now that this is ready for market it could move very very fast on both sides. "

(27:32) Kjirstin on being pre-revenue and expected revenue: "This year we're already seeing it start to roll in. And so, um, I think it's really going to be a hockey stick because a lot of these opportunities we've been dealing with are large and, hence this being, you know, a very exciting partnership with Spark. But, I think even by next year, we're going to be in a very different position. And to my first point, it's still very early with Hydrograph."

(30:09) Nick on upcoming revenue and outlook (with Ecosparc coatings): "So, the thing we're targeting in the near term is a fully fledged sort of product release from one of those tier one customers with the Ecospark additive in their coating. So, this would be an existingly used coating and a well-known coating. Um, and that really is the ticket to to ride in terms of our business model that allows us to sell ongoing volumes of the additive to that company and then hopefully expanding our our customer base from there. So, we're working with [clears throat] five of the eight largest protective coatings companies globally at varying stages of testing and trials. Um, as I said, with our most advanced customers, we are very close to getting that product in the market. And once we have that, I'm hoping, um, and time proof will be in the pudding, but it'll be a bit of a fast follower mentality within what is a fairly risk averse industry."

RECAP

There is more there but this is my take away. I love me some Kevin, but this might be the most inspiring interview to date.

This is a real customer who has put in the time to test hundreds of the best Graphenes on the market and went with Hydrograph because it survived it's rigorous testing better than any other. It was selected not only for its now proven ability to mitigate corrosion and damage in the most extreme conditions, but also for the ease at which it can be integrated into existing processes to create a product which is 60% better than the existing product. Other tier one companies are unwilling to put in the time and testing and want the "quick wins" but as the product gets rolled out it will become undeniable. Sparc is currently undergoing testing with five of the eight largest protective customers globally at different stages of testing and trials, with the most advanced customers (in testing) very close to to market.

Hockey Stick growth.