VANCOUVER, Canada (August 21, 2023) – MAX Power Mining Corp. (CSE: MAXX; OTC: MAXXF; FSE: 89N) (“MAX Power” or the “Company”) is pleased to report significant early progress in its co- operative research and development agreement (CRADA) with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(Berkeley Lab, LBNL), a California-based U.S. Department of Energy laboratory managed by the University of California, to develop state-of-the-art direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies for brine resources (refer to May 15, 2023 news release). Dr. Brett Helms and Dr. Michael Whittaker, two pre-eminent American research scientists at Berkeley Lab working in collaboration with MAX Power, are leading potential groundbreaking technology development focused on novel pre-treatment methods and a membrane-based approach to lithium extraction from a
diverse range of brine resources in the United States and Canada (see video interview links with Helms and
Whittaker included in this news release). Simultaneously, MAX Power is advancing a potential district- scale lithium brine/claystone project at the Willcox Playa in Arizona, southeast of Phoenix.
MAX Power and LBNL are incorporating innovative methods and novel materials into the DLE process to help unlock lower grade and challenging brine resources, lower production costs, and allow for higher
throughput as an effective alternative to existing methods.
Highlights:
• The technology approach is focused on a two-step DLE process that combines omnisolute pre- treatment with permselective extraction using novel polymer membranes;
• The pre-treatment techniques involve electrokinetic control over a range of inputs. The goal is to allow for a diverse brine pre-treatment for a wide variety of resource compositions;
• The project is utilizing new polymer membranes that feature ion-solvation cages to enable permselective transport of ions at a high rate to extract lithium from pre-treated brine.
Dr. Helms, co-founder of two deep tech Bay Area start-ups and award winner of the 2022 World Materials Forum’s start-up challenge, stated, “A key to our success at this stage comes from the polymers having the ability to passively and selectively concentrate lithium. We see significant opportunities for the membrane- based approach we’re developing to offer advantages over existing approaches, in particular higher throughput with respect to volume. This is particularly important for brine resources, where the amount of lithium may be low.”
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Mr. Rav Mlait, MAX Power CEO, commented: “Our partnership with Berkeley Lab has allowed MAX Power to develop new processes in the rapidly growing technology side of the booming lithium sector. Lithium production from DLE is expected to grow 12-fold by 2032, accounting for about 15% of total supply, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Lithium extraction from battery recycling also has outstanding potential. With a lithium asset in Arizona, a lithium extraction technology component in
California, and increasingly exciting hard rock lithium discovery opportunities in Quebec, MAX Power has carved out a niche for itself in this growing sector.”
Video Interview – Dr. Brett Helms
Dr. Helms’ research program at Berkeley Lab is devoted to materials discovery and development to solve outstanding challenges in energy and sustainability, including membranes for efficient ion separations relevant to resource extraction, refining, and circularity. He is co-founder of Bay Area start-ups Sepion Technologies and Cyklos Materials. At Cyklos, his award-winning innovations in PDK circularity have been featured in print, radio, television, on the web. Dr. Helms is a Kavli Fellow (2019) and co-inventor on more that 30 patents on performance polymers. He is deeply committed to solving problems in energy and sustainability through the development of better materials and lower-carbon manufacturing processes.
Link to interview: https://vimeo.com/855794138?share=copy
Video Interview – Dr. Michael Whittaker
Dr. Whittaker is a research scientist in the Energy Geoscience and Materials Science Divisions at BerkeleyLab. He is also co-founder and Director of the Lithium Resource Research and Innovation Center (LIRRIC) (https://lirric.lbl.gov/). Berkeley Lab established LIRRIC to power lithium innovation and guide research and development into lithium extraction technologies so that science breakthroughs lead to the greatest economic and environmental benefits. He is Principal Investigator of the Minerals for Energy Storage (MINES) Project, and Group Leader of the Living Minerals Team (https://livingmineral.lbl.gov/).
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Link to interview: https://vimeo.com/855784644/e2e4c97a8c?share=copy
About MAX Power
MAX Power is a dynamic exploration stage resource company targeting domestic lithium resources to advance North America’s renewable energy prospects.
Contact:
info@maxpowermining.com
MarketSmart Communications
Phone: 1-877-261-4466
Forward-Looking Cautionary Statement
This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, relating to exploration, drilling, mineralization and historical results on the Properties; the interpretation of drilling and assay results, the initiation of and the results thereby of any future drilling program, mineralization and the discovery mineralization (if any); plans for future exploration and drilling and the timing of same; the merits of the Property and the Nunavik region, generally; the potential for lithium within the Properties; commentary as it related to the opportune timing to explore lithium exploration and any anticipated increasing demand for lithium; future press releases by the Company; funding of any future drilling program; regulatory approval, including but not limited to the CSE. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “interpreted,” “intends,” “estimates,” “projects,” “aims,” “suggests,” “often,” “target,” “future,” “likely,” “pending,” “potential,” “goal,” “objective,” “prospective,” “possibly,” “preliminary”, and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will,” “would,” “may,” “can,” “could” or “should” occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company’s management on the date the statements are made, and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the CSE, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management’s beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include risks associated with possible accidents and other risks associated with mineral exploration operations, the risk that the Company will encounter unanticipated geological factors, risks associated with the interpretation of assay results and the drilling program, the possibility that the Company may not be able to secure permitting and other governmental clearances necessary to carry out the Company’s exploration plans, the risk that the Company will not be able to raise sufficient funds to carry out its business plans, and the risk of political uncertainties and regulatory or legal changes that might interfere with the Company’s business and prospects. The reader is urged to refer to the Company’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators’ System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.
