Column: Electric dreams turn into a nightmare for battery metals
A sector that was once racing to build new supply has been closing mines and deferring projects as low prices bite into the cost curve.
MGX Minerals (CSE: XMG) and Eureka Resources signed a definitive joint venture agreement to install the world’s first commercial rapid petrolithium recovery system in Pennsylvania.
According to both companies, the newly formed JV will initially focus on fast-tracking the deployment of the lithium recovery system at Eureka’s Standing Stone advanced wastewater treatment facility, located near the town of Towanda.
Standing Stone originally opened in 2013 and it provides regional energy producers with advanced wastewater treatment services for raw oil and gas brines.
MGX will initially receive a disproportionate share of gross revenue proceeds until its petrolithium unit capital costs are recovered. Eureka will manage all environmental permits related to each system installation as well as day-to-day operational duties
In the facility, water from within the Marcellus Shale is processed and Eureka and MGX noticed that post-concentration lithium values are in the range of 1,000ppm.
The plan is to apply MGX’s rapid lithium extraction technology there, as it is able to enhance the quality of lithium extraction and recovery across a range of brines as compared with traditional solar evaporation.
According to MGX, its solution eliminates or greatly reduces the physical footprint and investment needed for large, multi-phase, lake-sized, lined evaporation ponds.
In a press release, the firms involved in the JV explained that they are also discussing a strategy that focuses on growing lithium output and deploying additional rapid recovery systems throughout the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.
“This includes scaling up lithium output at Standing Stone, deploying additional systems to other Eureka facilities, and identifying new installation sites at third-party treatment facilities,” the statement reads.
The initial system should be commissioned in Q3 2019.
