MGX Minerals Acquires PurLucid Treatment Solutions

Published: September 16, 2016 |

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MGX Minerals Inc. has entered into a binding letter of intent to acquire an initial 50 percent interest in PurLucid Treatment Solution (Canada) Inc. in exchange for a C$5 million staged investment over two years and the right to acquire a 100 percent interest for an additional investment of C$10 million.

PurLucid has exclusive licensing to, assisted in development of, and deployed proprietary and patented technology that separates oil, to a high degree of purity, from lithium bearing brine, removing one of the major hurdles of oil field lithium brine production. Up until now the presence of hydrocarbons in lithium brine presented a potentially significant long term hurdle to efficient large scale production of lithium from oil field brine. PurLucid brings world class experience in oil field brine treatment engineering and will oversee the integration and commercialization of an integrated oil separation and lithium extraction plant.

“In PurLucid, we have found an ideal fit in terms of advanced brine processing technology as well as scientific and engineering expertise in brine management that will take oil field lithium brine processing to the operational phase in operating oil fields. The combined technology will likely yield the most advanced and robust industrial technology for the production of lithium and other valuable minerals from oil wells in the world. We plan to have the engineering phase completed shortly and are looking at starting physical installation of a test plant in Q1 2017, in line with PurLucid’s existing engineering and construction schedule,” said Jared Lazerson, CEO of MGX Minerals.

PurLucid’s technology has been designed for the environmental services industry to separate impurities from oil industry waste streams producing clean water as a final product. PurLucid partnered with David Bromley Engineering by licensing and applying patented Nanoflotation technology to wastewater treatment. The novel approach uses a removable membrane coating to capture particles. The technology provides the ability to operate at a third less cost on a continuous basis, with little to no downtime, and is projected to require half the capital expenditures, and reduce the carbon emissions of water treatment by 90 percent when compared to conventional environmental technology in thermal facilities. The PurLucid technology will remove heavy metals and hydrocarbons providing a continuous stream of partially concentrated lithium brine, very low in impurities, with a higher overall grade of lithium for processing with MGX’s rapid lithium production process.

PurLucid, working with MGX and its proprietary process design for lithium extraction will engineer, fabricate and deploy combined treatment and lithium recovery plants. PurLucid’s management includes some of the foremost experts in oil field wastewater management, which will augment, improve the efficiencies of MGX’s already state-of-the-art lithium brine production process.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGY CANADA INVESTMENT

PurLucid was awarded $3.2M in grants from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), an independent research group funded by the Government of Canada. The purpose of the SDTC grant has been to fund penetration of the Nanoflotation technology into the oil and gas sector. PurLucid, with support from MGX, is preparing to increase this original award to $10M, at the request of SDTC, by including additional process integration and funding from the Climate Change Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) which will include small commercial deployment of brine processing technology. The Nanoflotation technology has been recognized as a major success by SDTC.

INTEGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN

The companies will combine their proprietary and patented technologies for the purpose of extraction of lithium and other valuable metals, minerals, and hydrocarbons from lithium bearing oil well brine and other highly mineralized oil industry by-product streams. The Parties have developed an initial plan to integrate the technologies and plan to complete engineering over the next 10 weeks and deploy an initial integrated small commercial oil separation - lithium carbonate production plant shortly thereafter.

About MGX Minerals
MGX Minerals is a diversified Canadian mining company engaged in the development of large-scale industrial mineral portfolios in western Canada that offer near-term production potential, minimal barriers to entry and low initial capital expenditures. The company operates lithium, magnesium and silicon projects throughout British Columbia and Alberta. MGX recently released a maiden National Instrument (N.I. 43-101) compliant mineral resource estimate for its Driftwood Creek magnesium project, which outlined 8 million tonnes grading 43.31 percent magnesium oxide. In January the company received a 20-year mining lease for Driftwood Creek. Additionally, the company recently acquired the advanced-stage Sturgeon Lake lithium brine project in west-central Alberta, increasing the company’s lithium brine land position to over 376,000 hectares throughout the Province.

To stop by MGX Minerals’ website, CLICK HERE

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