MAX Power Cleared by U.S. Dept. of Energy For Development of Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) Technology with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
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VANCOUVER, Canada (May 15, 2023) – MAX Power Mining Corp. (CSE: MAXX; OTC: MAXXF) (“MAX Power”, “MAX” or the “Company”) has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (“CRADA”) with the University of California Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to develop state-of-the-art direct lithium extraction (“DLE”) technologies for brine resources.
Highlights:
• Dr. Brett Helms and Dr. Michael Whittaker, two preeminent American research scientists at LBNL, are leading the technology development;
• Dr. Helms is the co-founder of two deep tech Bay Area start-ups while Dr. Whittaker is the co- founder and Director of the Lithium Resource Research and Innovation Center at Berkeley Lab;
• MAX Power and LBNL will focus on developing new intellectual property and incorporating innovative methods and novel materials into the DLE process;
• MAX Power and its executives have been cleared by the U.S. Department of Energy to proceed with this project.
Mr. Rav Mlait, MAX Power CEO, commented: “Collaborating with two individuals of the stature of Brett Helms and Michael Whittaker on potential groundbreaking DLE technologies is tremendously exciting for MAX and further enhances our overall value proposition.” Mr. Mlait concluded, “With American and Canadian lithium divisions, encompassing hard rock, brine and technology, we have carved out a niche for MAX in this sector that will underpin and drive shareholder value in 2023 and beyond. We look forward to officially unveiling our brand and aggressively rolling it out to American and Canadian investors in the near future.”
MAX Power-LBNL Agreement
The agreement with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will focus on new DLE technologies targeting lower grade and challenging lithium brine deposits located in the United States and Canada. This is largely in response to the strategic initiative undertaken by the U.S. and Canada in their 2022 Joint Action Plan on Critical Minerals to advance bilateral interest in securing supply chains and resources for critical minerals like lithium needed for strategic manufacturing sectors, including communication technology, aerospace and defence, and clean technology.
The continuous global trend to massive electric vehicle manufacturing and instituting alternatives to fossil fuel energy presents an opportunity to use technology to unleash lower grade lithium deposits in order to secure additional North American supply while also reducing time and costs for lithium mineral extraction.
The MAX Power-LBNL research agreement is targeting dynamic new approaches in DLE covering pre- treatment, concentration, extraction, purification and post-treatment.
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 two deep tech 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. Dr. Helms received his B.S. from Harvey Mudd College in 2000 and his Ph.D. in 2006 at the U.C. Berkeley at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven where his focus was on
supramolecular chemistry.
Dr. Michael Whittaker
Dr. Whittaker is a research scientist in the Energy Geoscience and Materials Science Divisions at LBNL. He is also co-founder and Director of the Lithium Resource Research and Innovation Center (LIRRIC) (https://lirric.lbl.gov/) at LBNL. 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 Principle Investigator of the Minerals for Energy Storage (MINES) Project, and Group Leader of the Living Minerals Team (https://livingmineral.lbl.gov/). Dr. Whittaker received his BS/MS degrees from the University of Utah in Materials Science and Engineering in 2012, and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Materials Science and Engineering in 2017.
Agreement Details Under the Agreement, MAX Power will be funding research and development for DLE technology, estimated at $915,111 (U.S.) over two years (both direct and in-kind contributions). Furthermore, the Company has been granted the right to negotiate an exclusive license in the field of use for inventions generated from the CRADA and file related patents. The U.S. Government will retain a non-exclusive license to practice the invention.
Video
To view a video interview with MAX CEO regarding today’s news, please click on the following link:
https://youtu.be/sXFhDdVzY7Y
Qualified Person
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Thomas Clarke, P.Geo., Pr.Sci.Nat, and Director for MAX Power Mining Corp. Mr. Clarke is the Qualified Person responsible for the scientific and technical information contained herein under National Instrument 43- 101 standards.
(1) Source: https://projects.propublica.org/
(2) Source: https://www.atec.army.mil/epg/about.html
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:
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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.
The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed, approved, or disapproved the contents of this news release.