Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Hub City Lithium’s first well, southwest of Stoughton. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
VANCOUVER, ESTEVAN – Hub City Lithium’s majority shareholder, EMP Metals Corp. (CSE: EMPS) (OTCQB: EMPPF) announced on April 18 the commencement and commissioning of its Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) Field Pilot Facility located in Estevan. The facility represents the first Koch Technology Solutions (KTS) DLE pilot skid to be commissioned and operated in Canada.
EMP Metals is 75 per cent owner of Hub City Lithium, while Regina-based ROK Resources is 25 per cent owner and the operator. Hub City’s operations are concentrated in the Stoughton area, where, starting in later 2022, the company has drilled two wells west of the Viewfield Crater. It has done additional lithium testing near Mansur.
The tests done at Viewfield, southwest of Stoughton, have shown the highest publicly announced concentrations of lithium in deep aquifer brines in Saskatchewan to date.
EMP said in a release the operation of the facility will closely resemble field operating conditions, receiving high lithium concentration feed brine from the Viewfield area, where Hub City has already drilled two wells. Swab testing in the area has tested lithium concentrations upwards of 259 mg/L in one of the targeted zones. The facility also features a pre-filtration skid and a heater skid designed by Saltworks Technologies to deliver on spec feed brine at elevated temperatures of approximately 60 degrees Celsius. The facility is expected to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, over the next few months to gather valuable performance data that will provide the foundation for continued detailed engineering work on the stage 1 commercial facility.
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Initially, the facility operated over several days with lab results confirming the feed brine is meeting required specifications and the DLE skid is optimized for lithium recovery. The facility will process approximately 4,500 litres per day of feed brine. The lower daily throughput is representative of higher lithium concentrations in the feed brine. This results in lower volume required to fully load the pilot column with lithium on each cycle. Average feed brine lithium concentrations of 185 mg/L have been confirmed through third party lab testing and is representative of the producing zones isolated for the pilot testing.
Paul Schubach, COO of EMP Metals, said in a release, “The commencement, commissioning, and continuous run time at the pilot facility is a substantial milestone for EMP Metals and ROK Resources. The efforts by our local team, vendors, and contractors supporting the project have been instrumental in our early success. The data set we will collect over the next few months is expected to add significant value to our detailed engineering work for the initial stage 1 commercial facility located in Southern Saskatchewan.”
EMP also announced that the board of directors has authorized the grant of an aggregate 300,000 incentive stock options to certain employees and consultants of the company, at an exercise price of $0.40 per common share. The options are exercisable for a five-year period from the date of grant and may be subject to certain vesting provisions as determined by the board of directors. All options were granted pursuant to the company’s stock option plan and are subject to the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange.
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- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
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