MGX Minerals Acquires Purlucid Treatment Solutions Inc.- Solves Major Hurdle to Oil Well Lithium Brine Separation Process
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA / TheNewswire / September 15, 2016 / MGX Minerals Inc. ("MGX" or the "Company") (CSE: XMG / FKT: 1MG / OTC: MGXMF) is pleased to announce the Company has entered into a binding Letter of Intent (the "LOI") to acquire an initial 50% interest in PurLucid Treatment Solution (Canada) Inc. ("PurLucid" or collectively the "Parties") in exchange for a $5 million (CDN) staged investment over two years and the right to acquire a 100% interest for an additional investment of $10 million (CDN). 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.
About PurLucid
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% 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.
PurLucid Customers
PurLucid currently holds a master vendor and services agreement with CNRL for produced water and slop oil treatment. PurLucid fully staffed, trained and deployed a slop oil treatment system for CNRL in under 3 weeks and ran it for 5 months as they trained CNRL staff, generating over $1 MM in revenue. Nanoflotation was also tested at the CNRL Horizon mine in a 1-yr field test with two 4 month, 24/7 periods, beating all competitors in efficiency by a factor of 10. PurLucid and its staff have completed tailings processing work for Shell, Suncor, Imperial and Syncrude and have active contracts to process oilfield wastewater and brines from numerous producers.
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.
"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," stated MGX's CEO Jared Lazerson. Adding, "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."
About MGX Minerals
MGX Minerals (CSE: XMG) 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% 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. For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.mgxminerals.com.
About PurLucid
Purlucid is a water and wastewater treatment services company comprised of seasoned professional staff from existing large oil and gas service companies. Purlucid's distinct advantage over its competitors is its expertise in the industry and its technology portfolio that reduces costs, is much more efficient and can operate at high temperature in a vastly reduced footprint compared to conventional water treatment technologies.
CEO & Founder, Dr. Preston McEachern, is a respected leader in water management in the oil and gas industry with 23 years' experience in solving water challenges from mine tailings to industrial discharge. He is actively engaged by clients in advisory roles, holds three faculty appointments with Canadian Universities, and was the Vice President of Research and Development at a large North American Oil and Gas Service company (Tervita) prior to forming Purlucid Treatment Solutions.
President & COO, Pat Whelan, has more than 25 years in the Service sector. Pat founded Atlantic Directional Inc. in 2001 and successfully negotiated the sale of this company in 2011 to a large publicly traded drilling contractor. Having worked in Canada, USA, India, South America, and Middle East he has held such roles as: Technical Sales, VP Operations, Director of International Business Development as well as President and CEO.
Contact Information
Jared Lazerson
Chief Executive Officer
Telephone: 1.604.681.7735
Email: jared@mgxminerals.com
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Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "potentially" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
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