MGX Minerals (CSE: XMG) shipped this week what it calls ‘the world’s first commercial rapid lithium recovery system.’
The shipment was made from Calgary in western Canada to Towanda on the eastern side of the United States, where it landed at Eureka Resources’ Standing Stone advanced wastewater treatment facility.
The technology is applicable to oil and gas produced water, natural brine, lithium-rich mine brine and industrial plant wastewater
Back in June, MGX and Eureka formed a joint venture whose focus is on fast-tracking the deployment of the system. At present, the JV is working to commission it with the hope of beginning commercial extraction in 2019’s fourth quarter.
“Eureka’s Standing Stone facility, which originally opened in 2013, provides regional energy producers with advanced wastewater treatment services for raw oil and gas brines,” the companies said in a press release. “Post-concentration lithium values in the range of 1,000ppm have been reported by Eureka and verified by MGX from produced water from within the Marcellus Shale.”
The plan is to apply MGX’s rapid lithium extraction technology there, as it is able to enhance the quality of lithium extraction and recovery across a range of brines as compared with traditional solar evaporation.
According to the Canadian company, its solution eliminates or greatly reduces the physical footprint and investment needed for large, multi-phase, lake-sized, lined evaporation ponds.
Once the mechanism is completely functional at Standing Stone, MGX said the idea is to scale up lithium output, deploy additional systems to other Eureka facilities, and identify new installation sites at third-party treatment facilities.