THUNDER BAY, ON--(Marketwired - July 06, 2016) - Zenyatta Ventures Ltd. ("Zenyatta" or "Company") (TSX VENTURE: ZEN) (OTCQX: ZENYF) is pleased to announce the appointment of James Jordan, P.Eng., to the position of Project Manager with initial responsibility for overseeing all metallurgical functions related to the Company's upcoming pilot plant.

James Jordan graduated from Queen's University in 1983 with a degree in Mining Engineering (Mineral Processing) and has over 30 years' of experience that covers a full range of mineral extraction processes including iron ore, industrial minerals, precious, base metals and zinc refining. For the past five years, he has held senior management roles with Polyus Gold and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. Prior to moving into mine operations management, James spent 20 years in the consulting engineering field in a variety of roles. In 2006, he was appointed by Hatch Ltd. as Director Mineral Processing to build the mineral processing group in Mississauga. Prior to that he was a project manager and metallurgical engineer for SNC Lavalin Inc. He has experience supervising studies at all levels; from scoping to full feasibility for an extensive cross section of mining and mineral processing projects that includes industrial minerals and managing a feasibility study for the expansion of a talc processing plant. James' experience is broad based and includes senior level management responsibilities, strategic planning and operations management.

The purposes for the scaled up pilot plant are:

1. to create additional high purity graphite for the many potential customers requesting additional material for testing; and,

2. to further define the most efficient process flow sheet for the recovery of high purity product during the pre-feasibility stage.

The end user testing is designed to further qualify the high purity Albany graphite material for applications such as lithium ion batteries, fuel cells, powder metallurgy and graphene production for composite materials like concrete.

Aubrey Eveleigh, President and CEO stated, "We are very pleased to attract a professional of James Jordan's caliber to our existing management team. Mr. Jordan is an individual with a strong technical and leadership background, especially related to mineral processing. He will play a very important role during this next stage of Zenyatta's growth strategy."

Zenyatta continues to develop its rare Albany graphite deposit in Ontario, Canada. The Company's highly crystalline graphite deposit is a volcanic style rather than the typical and abundant sedimentary style of graphite deposits. Albany is the only and largest graphite deposit of its kind under development in the world. It is situated 30 km north of the Trans-Canada Highway, power line and natural gas pipeline near the communities of Constance Lake First Nation and Hearst. A rail line is located 70 km away with an all-weather road approximately 10 km from the graphite deposit. The world trend is to develop products for technological applications that need extraordinary performance using ultra-high purity graphite powder at an affordable cost. Albany graphite can be upgraded with very good crystallinity without the use of aggressive acids (hydrofluoric) or high temperature thermal treatment therefore having an environmental advantage over other types of upgraded high purity graphite material.

The outlook for the global graphite market is very promising with demand growing rapidly from new applications. It is now considered one of the more strategic elements by many leading industrial nations, particularly for its growing importance in high technology manufacturing and in the emerging "green" industries such as electric vehicle components. The application for graphitic material is constantly evolving due to its unique chemical, electrical and thermal properties. It maintains its stability and strength under temperatures in excess of 3,000°C and is very resistant to chemical corrosion. It is also one of the lightest of all reinforcing elements and has high natural lubricating abilities. Some of these key physical and chemical properties make it critical to modern industry.

Zenyatta also announces the grant of 1,700,000 options to directors, officers, employees and consultants at an exercise price of $0.72 for a period of 5 years.

Mr. Aubrey Eveleigh, P.Geo., Zenyatta's President and CEO, is the "Qualified Person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed, prepared and supervised the preparation of the technical information contained in this news release.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: This analysis does not represent a statistically large sample size. Furthermore, these positive results do not mean that Zenyatta can extract and process Albany graphite for graphite applications on an economic basis. Without a formal independent feasibility study, there is no assurance that the operation will be economic. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward looking information and Zenyatta cautions readers that forward looking information is based on certain assumptions and risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations of Zenyatta included in this news release. This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements", which often, but not always, can be identified by the use of words such as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". These statements are based on information currently available to Zenyatta and Zenyatta provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements with respect to Zenyatta's future plans, objectives or goals, to the effect that Zenyatta or management expects a stated condition or result to occur, including the expected timing for release of a pre-feasibility study, the expected uses for graphite in the future, and the future uses of the graphite from Zenyatta's Albany deposit. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of metallurgical processing, ongoing exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of Zenyatta's mineral properties, and Zenyatta's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as, but are not limited to: failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves; the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results; the inability to identify target markets and satisfy the product criteria for such markets; the inability to complete a prefeasibility study; the inability to enter into offtake agreements with qualified purchasers; delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals; political risks; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates; fluctuations in commodity prices; delays in the development of projects; capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry; and those risks set out in Zenyatta's public documents filed on SEDAR. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of Zenyatta's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on Zenyatta's forward-looking statements. Although Zenyatta believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Zenyatta disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.