ICM and SX U.S. President Biden’s Clean Energy Plan expects to see investments of over $400 billion over ten years, with a major focus on clean energy vehicles; the plan calls for 500,000 new charging outlets by the end of the decade. Tesla plans to produce 20 million EV annually by 2030. The wave is here, but as with any great wave, there is an undercurrent to deal with. By 2025, 250,000 tonnes of discarded battery packs could be sitting in our landfills. Current batteries are not yet optimized for disassembly, and the more that are disposed of, the greater the pollution and even danger of thermal runaway….which is just a fancy way of saying disposed lithium-ion batteries can overheat and cause fire or even explode in landfills. Elon Musk himself has stressed the importance of ramping up lithium production, with Tesla embarking on a battery recycle and swap program. The need for efficient and cost-effective lithium battery recycling has never been greater.
The basics of SX are, well, pretty basic. It has extensive gold properties in Iceland and a nickel-cobalt-copper property in Quebec, Canada. Both are solid projects with excellent prospects. But the real fun, the real MYSTERY, begins with lithium.
Now I’m not certain what you know of lithium, but it is a highly reactive element that you don’t just dig out of the ground and stick into a battery. If only it were that simple. Lithium is present, in small quantities in material such as brine, mineral ore, and clay. Extracting it is a chemical process, and not necessarily a clean one. Chemicals can pollute water supply, and the amount of water used in processing one ton of lithium is a staggering 500000 gallons!. To date, lithium is really only successfully extracted in brine and ore, not clay. The average recovery rate of lithium in these processes is only about 30%. Not particularly efficient.
Back to St. George’s. The company is working on a revolutionary technology to extract lithium from clay, with patents pending. They have an existing agreement with Iconic Minerals (ICM on the TSX.V), which gives Iconic the right to use this new technology on its lithium properties in Nevada (remember this location, please). What are they giving St. George’s for this? Five million shares of their company, investment in St. George’s (through a private placement) and perpetual royalties. Iconic quite clearly sees the potential in the technology, and how could they not? St. George’s has reported remarkable early stage results with lithium extraction up to 98% and completed in record time. Yes, 98%.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Nevada, Tesla is looking to start its own mining and processing chain. It recently pulled out of an agreement with a company called cypress Development Corp., a company also working on lithium processing (they are at 85% extraction and use a less clean process than SX). The folks at Tesla may indeed be looking to develop their own tech, but they also appear to be searching for technology to acquire….
Now let’s move this along quicker. One piece to the puzzle you haven’t read yet may be the biggest piece of all, a St. George’s partnership with Altair International to produce CLEAN ENERGY RECYCLING PROCESSES for lithium ion batteries. It’s a revolutionary project, as it reuses every last piece of these old EV batteries. Absolutely nothing is wasted. Zero. It’s revolutionary and the potential is boundless. How much did Altair pay St. George’s to get in on this partnership? Altair, with its $100 million-plus market cap, paid six million shares and $300,000 cash, and both companies are already hard at work at their pilot plant in Quebec. (It's a world class facility with ties to the Provincial Government, in case you were wondering)
OK, now it gets even more interesting. St. George’s started a subsidiary company specifically for their clean energy projects, named EVSX. The first hire they made, as Director and President, was Mr. Paul Pelosi.
Back up to that previous line and read the last name again, please. Yes, THAT Pelosi. The son of U.S. Congresswoman and Speaker of The House, Nancy Pelosi. But Paul Jr. has a heavyweight resume of his own. Aming a very long list of accomplishments, he was the President of the Environmental Commission in San Francisco, an organization that develops policy in a host of environmental programs, including energy efficiency and…….recycling. He was known for corporate governance practices that helped new technology advance while supporting stakeholders. Hmmmm, sounds like he may know a thing or two about cutting-edge clean energy technology. And he might have a friend or two in Washington. Just a hunch. A St. George’s press release stated that EVSX (and therefore Mr. Pelosi) is …”dedicated to electric vehicle battery technology and future partnerships in the development of lithium mineral resources.”
And he didn’t just walk in and collect a fat director’s cheque. He immediately participated in a private placement with $200,000 of his own money. Trust me, this isn’t common practice.
Pelosi Jr. also happens to be an advisor to the American Battery Metals Corporation (ABML in the U.S.). ABML is also working on its own battery recycling process. It has approximately a $1.35 billion market cap and has seen its stock run from 24 cents (USD) in December to over $4.00 in late January. It has been given a 4.5 million dollar grant from the US Department of Energy's Advanced Manufacturing Office. Now I wonder if any of their advisors may have been instrumental in getting them that much-needed exposure?
The plot thickens. ABML Founder, Mr. Craig Alford, is the CEO of Barrel Energy (BRLL). Mr. Alford is currently speaking with both Altair International AND our heroes at St. George’s in order to acquire location sites for future recycling plants in Nevada!
So we have finally reached the connect the dots portion of the program. Let’s make a list.
1-SX develops a potentially revolutionary lithium extraction process.
2-ICM quickly partners with them and brings the technology to Nevada.
3-SX and Altair develop a potentially revolutionary lithium recycling process. Altair quickly pays for the opportunity to partner with SX and they go off to Quebec to develop the tech.
4-SX opens a subsidiary and hires Paul Pelosi Jr. as President of it.
5-Mr. Pelosi Jr. is a heavyweight in the industry with his own and familial connections at various levels of government.
6-Mr. Pelosi Jr. advises at ABML, which won a government grant and has risen over 15-fold in under two months
7-The founder of ABML, now CEO of Barrel Energy, opens talks to find space for SX and Altair to cost-effectively bring their revolutionary recycling process to Nevada.
8-Oh, and Tesla is in Nevada too.