A few miles northwest of Phoenix, smack dab in the middle of the lithium-rich Arizona Pegmatite Belt, one of the most important experiments in mineral technology is taking place.

It’s not really an experiment — all the testing was completed in the labs of Penn State University, developing this new technology.

Rather, this site in Arizona will serve as the proof-of-concept for a breakthrough so seismic, it could alter the lithium-mining world for the next generation.

The innovation?

An eco-friendly, efficient, and fast way to extract lithium that requires 90% less energy than conventional methods.

This new tech could make recovery of all hard-rock lithium around the globe a cleaner, quicker, and more affordable process.

And while the patent-holders for this tech are the researchers who invented it at Penn State…

One tiny lithium exploration company owns the worldwide rights.

There are already a number of majors in negotiations to gain access to this new process.

But before it enters mass adoption, the company wants to prove its utility at their own sites.

And those sites are so promising, the mineral rights alone make this a project with large potential.

That’s because, not only does this company have multiple exploration sites throughout the Americas — in some of the areas most blessed with lithium riches…

But the lithium market itself is so hot, every player stands to grow over the coming years.

That’s also why this company’s tech license may prove the more valuable asset in the mid- to long-term.

When the world economy demands this much lithium, any company that can make a better mousetrap will benefit enormously.

Why Lithium is Starting Its Secular Bull Run

You don’t have to go far to find lithium.

It’s in your phone’s battery. Your laptop battery too.

About 8 kg of lithium go into the battery for a single EV car, on average[1].

The metal is in use in all sorts of high-tech applications — from airplanes to supercomputers.

With demand for all of these devices increasing — and EV growth in particular driving the trend, with multiple companies and countries planning to phase out gas-powered vehicles by 2030 and beyond — it’s no surprise that lithium demand is skyrocketing.

Indeed — McKinsey estimates that the lithium battery market alone will grow 27% annually through 2030.

However, as with most metals and similar commodities, it takes years to develop new projects.

To keep up with demand, supply will have to grow approximately 5-fold by 2030.

Right now, we’re off pace.

Companies like this are helping to make up the gap.

And that’s not just through the multitude of high-probability lithium projects, in lithium-rich areas of Arizona, Brazil, and with the potential to expand into northern Canada’s newly discovered lithium fields.

Even if each of those projects came up empty — an unlikely scenario — this company would still leave it’s mark by bringing a massive innovation to market.

Less Energy, Less Expense, Less Time, More Lithium

The current method of extracting lithium from spodumene pegmatite — the hard rock formations that host high concentrations of the mineral — is very energy intensive.

It requires multiple steps. It requires melting the spodumene at 1100 degrees Celsius.

That’s around the temperature of lava, which generally comes between 800 and 1200 degrees Celcius.

As you can imagine, it requires a horrific amount of energy to heat rock to that temperature.

Penn State’s new innovation can avoid all of that.

How is this done? By experimenting with different reagents, Dr. Rezzae — lead researcher on the project — was able to replace the energy-intensive ‘calcination’ step above.

Instead of heating the spodumene to 1100 degrees Celcius, the team found you could get the same results by ‘roasting’ at 570 degrees Celcius with a reagent — the best one being sodium hydroxide.

Microwave-assisted chemical roasting can extract up to 95% of lithium from spodumene, using less time and energy than traditional methods.[2] With some tweaks, the Penn State team has reached a 97% recovery rate.

That compares favorably with traditional processes.

However, the energy and cost savings are enormous.

The Arizona Lithium Belt Keeps On Giving

Until relatively recently, Arizona wasn’t known as a hotbed of lithium exploration.

It is now.

That’s because some of the largest hard-rock lithium deposits in North America have been found in a largely unexplored belt of pegmatite that extends from about 30 miles northwest of Phoenix, sweeping up through Arizona.

The area has long been known to contain lithium. The first lithium mine there started operating right after World War II.[3]

However, at the time, lithium wasn’t in great demand. It was used in a few niche applications — but it wasn’t a linchpin of the global economy, the way it is today.

That’s why the area went largely undeveloped for so long.

But now this company owns the rights to 939 hectares of land in the middle of the richest part of the belt, named the Lucky Mica project.

A neighboring project — the Wickenburg project has already shown “significant lithium anomalies” — with some early drilling results showing pegmatite containing up to 5.88% lithium.[4]

For reference, 2% concentration or thereabouts is usually a solid, profitable find.

5.88% concentration is nearly off the charts — it would be one of the richest hard rock finds in the world.

They have sent down the first exploratory drills this quarter.

It should start getting results for the Lucky Mica project by the end of the year.

It should take 12-18 months to fully define how much lithium the Lucky Mica project contains.

And it will take another 12-18 months to fully develop it.

Helping the project along, the pegmatite in Arizona is near the surface.

It can be accessed via open-pit mining — which is cheaper, safer, and cleaner than underground mining.

Add in Arizona’s recognition as one of the easiest jurisdictions in which to develop mineral properties, and the Lucky Mica project looks like one of the most straightforward potential wins in the early exploration space.

But the Lucky Mica project is not this company ’s only bite at the apple. There is another.

Canada May Have More Lithium Than Anywhere Else

In the cold northern reaches of Canada… northern Quebec precisely, near James Bay… there’s a lithium rush on.

The area has barely been explored due to its harsh tundra climate.

But today, as we know, demand for lithium is heating up. And early returns from the area show James Bay may have some of the greatest hard rock lithium reserves in the world.

Indeed — one of the largest hard-rock lithium deposits ever discovered has recently been unearthed here. They’ve proven 110 Mt of lithium reserves of high quality.[5]

The company has two tremendous stakes right in the middle of this action.

The area is unexplored, but using simple cursory surveys and observations there are over 100 pegmatite outcrops in this company ’ properties — AC/DC and Lafleur.

With funding already in place, all that’s left now is to wait for the first results to start coming in next year.

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