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This Tech Could be a Game Changer for Lithium MinersLONDON, March 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Gold isn't precious anymore. Instead, it is battery metals that are drawing investor attention as electric vehicles threaten to completely rearrange the balance of power in the mining industry. Included in today's commentary: Ballard Power Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:BLPD), Hydrogenics Corporation (NASDAQ:HYGS), Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. (NYSE:TRQ), Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC). But when we start shopping around for some way to put our money into lithium-the tight-supply darling of this new balance of power-it's hard to find the right small-cap play that will end up being a multi-bagger. It's a crowded playing field. We want a small-cap with big ideas, a working plan already in place, strong prospects, unique advanced tech that no one else has, and exactly the right people. We found 'Burba's Brine'. 'Burba' is a reference to John Burba-the genius in the lithium space who co-invented one of the most unique lithium extraction technologies for giant miner FMC. Now, he's the CEO of International Battery Metals (IBAT; RHHNF), which now holds the even more advanced version of this proprietary technology. 'Brine' is a reference to where most of the lithium is. And brine deposits are estimated to contain 66 percent of the world's 14 million metric tonnes (MT) of Lithium. IBAT ticks all of our pure-play lithium boxes: It has Burba, the lithium legend. It has a new, proprietary technology that can extract lithium faster than anything else on the planet. It has mobility: Yes, the tech can be moved around from brine to brine, just like that. It has a guaranteed market because all of these giant EV and battery players can't come close to keeping their production capacity without a lot more lithium. Make no mistake, this isn't an exploration game. It's an innovation game, and IBAT is leading the pack. Here are 5 more reasons to take a further look at IBAT (IBAT; RHHNF), #1 - Before Burba Came Along … Everyone thought lithium extraction was limited to a small number of brines. They also thought it should take up to 24 months to extract. Burba changed the rules of the game by pioneering a new technology that can turn months into … hours. It's not solar evaporation, the cumbersome process that takes two years to see results. Solar evaporation requires extracting every single element from the brine until only lithium remains. Hence the painstakingly long process. IBAT's technology targets the lithium directly, extracting the new precious metal and leaving everything else behind. In other words, it's the old process, in reverse. Burba co-invented the first version of this technology decades ago. FMC-one of the world's top four lithium producers-has been using it for 20 years. His invention even led to the label "FMC-grade" carbonate because it's the purest in the world. But that was 20 years ago. And Burba didn't stop there. The original technology has been advanced further-with a Burba twist. And the new technology has the potential to reshape lithium like fracking reshaped American oil. #2 - Tesla Thinks So, Too Nothing speaks to us more than a multi-million-dollar nod from the 'Iron Man' of our time: Elon Musk. The Tesla genius knows Burba's work well. In fact, Musk offered $325 million for Burba's earlier start-up, Simbol. Musk called it a "compelling opportunity to combine two innovative companies on a mission to advance clean and sustainable energy technologies worldwide." It wasn't a high enough price tag for Simbol, though, and Burba took his knowledge elsewhere-to Selective Absorption Lithium, which has a share exchange agreement with IBAT. Burba is the incoming CEO and Chair of IBAT, maintaining control of even more advanced patent pending lithium extraction technology. #3 - No Other Small-Cap Can Produce Lithium in Time Timing is critical when we're talking about lithium, and IBAT's technology can extract lithium in 24 hours-not 24 months. This means more efficient operations and a much smaller environmental footprint. While some small-cap resource companies have made similar claims, based on small scale laboratory tests, none are basing their claims on technology that has been commercially proven. The technology that IBAT is bringing to the table is a vastly improved version of the technology that Burba and his partner sold to FMC, which became the basis of FMC's lithium production process. FMC's lithium extraction plant has continuously operated with this technology for 20 years. Lithium shortage fears first emerged about two years ago, causing a tripling in lithium prices in only 10 months. Suddenly it occurred to everyone that the electric vehicle boom had crept up on them stealthily. Then EVs started hitting the mainstream market, and the race to build battery gigafactories to support them was on in full force. Today, the fear is that much greater. We simply don't have enough lithium mining operations online to feed this revolution. EV production is set to increase more than thirtyfold by 2030, according to Bloomberg. Again, this playing field is crowded with small-caps trying to get in on the fantastically tight supply set-up. But they won't make it because they don't have the right technology. Many will spent a ton of money that they don't have, and then some will crash and burn because they can't get the lithium out of the brine fast enough to corner any decent market share. Production capacity is now at a critical juncture. It usually takes a minimum of 4 years for an average Lithium brine mine to come online--and another 3-4 years to reach full capacity. It's the key to unlocking what could be over $80 billion in lithium brine resources-resources that major EV players like Tesla-and now every other auto maker in the world-and tech giants like Apple, on its way to becoming the first-ever trillio-dollar company, are coveting. # 4- Lithium Demand is a Producer's Dream A close look at the current lithium market highlights just how big the potential for successful small caps with the right technology is. With global battery demand forecast to rise 7.7 percent to $120 billion already in 2019, and with the lithium market alone set to reach $1.7 billion, this is a market that won't wait for evaporating ponds. The global Li-ion market is expected to exceed $46 billion by 2022, growing at nearly 11 percent CAGR. What the world needs right now is plentiful supply of high-grade Lithium to power the unfolding EV revolution. There's more upside risk here because of battery demand than there is downside risk, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance's Andrew Grant. Lithium prices have made prodigious runs to all-time highs. Tesla's 70kWh Model S battery pack contains 63Kg of lithium, equivalent to the amount of lithium in 10,000 cellphones, and the EV posterchild has already accumulated more than 400K Model 3 pre-orders on its books. Tesla, too, will use up the entire world's current supply of battery-grade lithium when it hits a production clip of 500K Model 3s in its giant Nevada Gigafactory sometime in 2018. When it opens up four more gigafactories, well … Meanwhile, the plug-in EV market is already growing at 10x faster than its gasoline-powered counterpart. Bloomberg Finance has forecast there will be more than 100 million EVs on our roads by 2040. IBAT's not wasting any precious lithium time here-it's a small-cap, pure-play lithium set-up that ticks all the right boxes in an incredible market. # 5 - The Dream Team Behind The Tech Inventor John Burba-a veteran in lithium extraction-is the incoming IBAT (IBAT; RHHNF) Chairman and CEO, and he's one of the most important pioneers in extraction technologies. He is considered a genius in this space. IBAT's new to-be-acquired technology is actually based on a tech that John Burba co-invented and sold in the 1990s when he was a leading technology figure at giant FMC. Before Burba came along, everyone thought that lithium could be produced from only a limited number of brines. Burba has since made dramatic advancements on the core technology. This has yielded significant improvements in terms of extraction efficiency, cost and purity. Robert Miller is another big name that will be working with IBAT on fund raising efforts. Miller has raised over $500 million in early-stage capital and taken 7 companies public - with listings including both NASDAQ and AMEX. He's also founder of the gold-mining company Crystallex, bringing years of experience to this ground-breaking project. Burba has already revolutionized lithium processing once. With his new tag team, he has the potential to do it again - unlocking over $84 billion worth of lithium. Other companies to watch in the lithium and energy tech space:
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