Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 20, 2018) - International Battery Metals Ltd. (CSE: IBAT) ("IBAT" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has entered into its second licensing agreement (the "Licensing Agreement") with Ensorica Metals Corporation ("Ensorcia") and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ensorcia Argentina LLC ("EAL"), whereby IBAT will license its lithium extraction technology to EAL for use in the extraction of lithium chloride from lithium bearing brine sources in the country of Argentina (the "Territory"). The resulting lithium chloride will be converted to lithium carbonate and or lithium hydroxide. It may also be exported as a feed stock. In addition, the Licensing Agreement appoints IBAT as the exclusive provider to EAL and its Affiliates of technology, systems and equipment for the extraction of lithium salts from brine within the Territory as well as all design, installation, operation and maintenance services within the Territory with respect to systems and equipment for the extraction of lithium salts from brine. The economic viability and technical feasibility regarding any of the Argentinian projects has not been established at this time. As consideration for entering into the Licensing Agreement IBAT will receive a six percent royalty (6%) on the netback sales price of all products produced and sold using the Licensed technology and has also been granted a ten percent (10%) common membership interest in EAL.
Upon signing the second agreement with Ensorcia in less than a month. Dr John Burba, CEO of IBAT, stated, "We are very excited to be extending our alliance with Ensorcia to include Argentina. Argentina and Chile have some of the world's richest lithium bearing salars and with EAL's and Sorcia (see Nov 8/18 NR) ability to access those resources it's a step closer in achieving our goal as a disruptive technology for Lithium extraction. One of IBAT's goals is to produce commercially viable technology with the smallest environmental footprint possible. Our technology is designed to extract lithium without the use of traditional evaporation ponds and our process does not add anything to the source brine, so it can be returned to the salar aquifer after the extraction of the lithium. The extraction units are also projected to recycle greater than 95% of their process water. We believe this feature is essential for operations in arid salar environments. Additionally, high internal water recycle also means very low waste water discharge. As a result, we expect to have minimal impact on salar ecology and local indigenous people.
Lastly, our novel approach to lithium extraction will utilize portable extraction units designed to be deployed faster and cheaper. Our novel design also allows us to have one of the lowest operating costs for lithium extraction with far fewer environmental impacts than more traditional techniques for lithium production."
For the full terms of the Licensing Agreement, please refer to the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
Greg Mehos, Ph.D., P.E., an independent Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed, approved and verified that the scientific and technical information contained in the release is accurate