Today, MGX Minerals Inc. announced major progress. During the last works to finish the first commercial petrolithium system, the lithium adsorbtion rate of reagents during the extraction nanofiltration process has been doubled from 20 milligram of lithium per gram of adsorbtion reagent to 40 mg. This translates into a significant reduction in reagent use, and therefore production costs, as chemicals/reagents are the single largest cost in the company’s lithium extraction process. Additionally, reagent depletion in the lithium nanofilter has now been reduced to less than 1% per cycle, increasing the operating time and associated recovery for the lithium nanofilter prior to requiring recoating with the reagent.
Certainly, a doubling of the performance of the lithium extraction filters is a spectacular breakthrough to drastically reduce production costs. This should greatly assist in making MGX a prominent lithium producer faster than expected. In the end, it´s all about production costs. Those who can extract lithium chloride from brine at the lowest cost will dominate the market – especially if this can be accomplished with a patented and scalable technology.
Most interestingly, MGX´s technology works for continental brines (evaporites), geothermal brines, petrolithium brines, industrial wastewater, mine tailings, etc. – essentially because the pre-treatment is so robust, making all kinds of brines equal.
The first commercial petrolithium system with a capacity of 120 cubic foot (750 barrel per day) is currently undergoing final flow testing and optimization in preparation for deployment. Once the system is up and running commercially, one can count on the publication of financial ratios. Thanks to today´s news, one can already speculate on MGX being capable of producing a marketable lithium chloride at costs which are competitive with the "low-cost" producers from South America.
What great murmuring would go through the lithium market if it becomes evident that MGX has a patented and scalable technology in hand with one of the lowest production costs in the lithium market? On top of that, MGX controls extremely large lithium "occurences" in North America which are still considered "uneconomic" as no economic method of commercial extraction officially exists today. The commercial deployment of MGX´s technology may change this soon – a historic game-changer in the lithium industry thanks to MGX´s first mover advantage.
Today, MGX also gave an update on its larger petrolithium systems to be deployed after the first 120 cubic foot system. The first 1,200 cubic foot system is in final engineering design phase by engineering partner PurLucid. Fabrication is expected to commence shortly and be completed by summer. This system is under contract for deployment at an oilsands SAGD site under a water purification agreement targeting a reduced cost of 50% as compared with the current truck and dispose option, as well as reduction of physical hydrocarbon (bitumen) waste product footprint, clean water reuse and minerals recovery.
Additionally, the initial component design of a 2,400 cubic meter (13,000 barrels) per day system has been completed. The basic system and tanks are designed to fit within a 42’ x 64’ building housing nano-flotation pre-treatment sub-system, nano-filtration lithium and mineral extraction subsystem, mineral holding tanks, sludge processing, and on-site laboratory.
Company details
MGX Minerals Inc.
#303 - 1080 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 2T1
Phone: +1 604 681 7735
Email: jared@mgxminerals.com
www.mgxminerals.com
Shares Issued & Outstanding: 99,758,991
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Canadian Symbol (CSE): XMG
Current Price: $1.37 CAD (02/09/2018)
Market Capitalization: $137 Million CAD
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German Symbol / WKN (Tradegate): 1MG / A12E3P
Current Price: €0.899 EUR (02/09/2018)
Market Capitalization: €90 Million EUR
Previous Coverage
Report #42 “Scores of Tail Winds for MGX becoming a Leader in the New Energy Economy“
Report #41 “MGX Goes Big, Develops Utility-Scale Battery Storage System“
Report #40 “Positioned to Profit from Transition to New Energy Economy“
Report #39 “MGX Assembles Dream Team For California Lithium Strategy“
Report #38 “MGX: The Next GreenTech Energy Giant“
Report #37 “MGX Partners with Highbury Energy to make Petroleum Coke more Clean“
Report #36 “Technological Breakthrough in the Mass Energy Storage Industry“
Report #35 “Eureka! MGX Starts Developing Silica Projects after Acquisition of Mass Storage Battery Technology“
Report #34 “MGX Going Big on Petrolithium: The first large-scale integrated petroleum and lithium project ever developed“
Report #33 “Driving into the Realms of Tesla & Co: MGX Acquires Mass Storage Battery Technology from Teck Resources“
Report #32 “Backed by Private and Institutional Heavyweights: MGX cashes up for Lithium Extraction and Exploration“
Report #31 “MGX Revolutionizes the Lithium World - Commissions First Rapid Lithium Extraction System“
Report #30 “Full Steam Ahead: MGX Engages Senator Polanco (Ret.) to Head California Lithium Brine Strategy“
Report #29 “MGX to Target Geothermal Market for Extraction of Lithium and Gold“
Report #28 “MGX Minerals Commences Development of the World‘s First Petrolithium Field“
Report #27 “Canadian Government Backs MGX Minerals‘ Petrolithium Cleantech“
Report #26 “MGX Minerals Solves the Magnesium Problem of the Lithium Industry“
Report #25 “Hard-Rock Lithium Exposure for MGX“
Report #24 “One of the Largest Initial Oil Estimates in US History“
Report #23 “MGX starts Petrolithium pilot plant to deliver hard facts for strategic partners“
Report #22 “Time to bet: Sprott takes a position in MGX“
Report #21 “Petrolithium: First Come First Served“
Report #20 “Successful Independent Verification of the MGX Lithium Extraction Technology“
Report #19 “MGX to Drill the World‘s First PetroLithium Well in Utah“
Report #18 “MGX Reports Upgrading of Lithium Brine from 67 to 1600 ppm Lithium“
Report #17 “MGX technology nominated for prestigious Katerva Award, the Nobel Prize of Sustainability“
Report #16 “Unconventional oil play legend Marc Bruner to take MGX and PetroLithium to the next level“
Report #15 “Total Conviction: MGX forms PetroLithium Corp. to expand into the US oilfield brine markets“
Report #14: “MGX Extracts Lithium from Oil Wastewater - Begins Monumental Integration with Big Oil“
Report #13 "MGX Partners with Oil Major on Lithium Brine, New Energy Industry Facing Fundamental Shift“
Report #12 "Game Changing Potential: MGX Minerals‘ Pilot Plant for Rapid Production of Lithium Nears Completion“
Report #11 "MGX assays 34 g/t gold from surface sampling in British Columbia“
Report #10 “Official: MGX owns magnesium worth multi-billions of dollars and starts pilot plant shortly“
Report #9 “One of the world‘s largest lithium resources on the horizon?“
Report #8 “Ready for significant lithium brine work in Alberta“
Report #7 “At the forefront of Alberta‘s lithium brine riches“
Report #6 “Pioneering Lithium in Alberta: MGX Minerals Teams Up“
Report #5 “Time to Put a Lithium Production Process in Place“
Report #4 “MGX Minerals Taps Into Canada‘s Potentially Largest High-Grade Lithium Resources“
Report #3 “MGX Minerals Receives Mining Lease for 20 years (in British Columbia!)“
Report #2 “MGX Minerals Accelerates Towards Production“
Report #1 “MGX Minerals Plans To Enter The Magnesium Market“
Disclaimer: Please read the full disclaimer within the full research report as a PDF (here) as fundamental risks and conflicts of interest exist. The author hold a long position in MGX Minerals Inc. and is being paid a monthly retainer from Zimtu Capital Corp., which company also holds a long position in MGX Minerals Inc.