International Battery Metals Ltd (IBATF)

[Liquid_Bull]

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/5-innovative-companies-in-the-lithium-era-649736503.html

International Battery Metals (IBAT; RHHNF)

While most lithium stocks are in production/upstream activities, International Battery Metals (IBAT) is a tech stock with a bold new approach to lithium output, one that could potentially change how this mineral is produced and marketed.

Lithium carbonate equivalent is most often extracted from brine sources and spodumene mines. Once potent sources are found, solar evaporation is used to extract lithium from the brine and spodumene. That's how it's done in Chile and Argentina, two of the biggest lithium suppliers. Normally, solar evaporation takes months to extract lithium from salt brine, but IBAT has signed an LOI to acquire technology from North American Lithium (NAL) which has developed improved technology that can do process the brine in a matter of hours.

The proprietary method isolates lithium ions in the brine salt solution, removing lithium chloride while leaving the remaining salts behind. It's a process that's faster and much more environmentally friendly: no salt piles are left for farming, and no toxic ponds of brine are left to pool after extraction.

If proven on a commercial scale, it's the equivalent of fracking for lithium: an improved method that could radically speed-up production times. Right now, it can take 4 years for a lithium brine mine to come on-line, and other 3-4 years before the full capacity is reached. IBAT's technology could turn a mine productive and fully profitable in a fraction of the time.

Along with a quickened schedule, IBAT's to-be-acquired technology should cut down on production costs. The company plans on using a highly-mobile extraction unit that can operate fully remotely; it doesn't need teams of technicians and miners to monitor it, and the quick extraction times means no more 18-24 month-long tours.

Even without the massive capex of the big three lithium miners (Albermarle, Sociedad Quimica y Miner de Chile, and FMC), if everything works according to plan, IBAT could operate on a cost-per-ton equivalent. Once commercial production is proven using the improved technology and operations begin, the company could become profitable almost immediately.

Led by lithium pioneer John Burba, considered a genius in inventive lithium-extraction technology, IBAT entered the lithium field only this year. Already, it has evaluated three North American brine areas and secured one for potential lithium extraction. Plans for a pilot extraction facility for early 2018 are in motion, with possible new licenses on the table for March 2018.

IBAT has already signed an option agreement for a 37,500 acre play in the Woodbury Carper Lithium Resource Project in Illinois. If the soon to be acquired technology proves successful, it could auger a new North American lithium rush, as other miners try to get in on the action.

Suffice it to say, IBAT is an exciting company with some big, bold plans for the future. Its technology, if proved successful on a commercial scale could change lithium operations worldwide, paying off for any investor who believes that IBAT's technology will win out.