July 21, 2006 – South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds announced a cooperative agreement with Zyvex Corp. of Richardson, Texas, to establish a Nanomaterials Prototyping, Testing and Characterization Facility at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology’s Polymer Processing Center.

Under this agreement, Zyvex will immediately open its first satellite facility in Rapid City, S.D. Zyvex-South Dakota will initially manufacture pilot-scale quantities of Zyvex’s NanoSolve material. Zyvex also will become a major user of the SDSM&T-PPC, utilizing the center’s facilities to produce and characterize new nanomaterial-based products.

Production activity has already begun in the facility for Zyvex’s sporting goods customers, with a production rate up to 800 pounds of NanoSolve Enhanced Epoxy per month. The material is used to make carbon fiber composite structures stronger and stiffer, and is finding significant acceptance in the high performance sporting goods market.

Zyvex said it expects to add at least eight to ten people to the South Dakota facility over the next 18 months (with more to follow) and is currently interviewing for the startup staff. South Dakota-based Zyvex employees will work closely with the company’s established nanomaterials experts in Texas to create and verify nanomaterials-based composites and processing techniques to market-driven specifications.