Lithium in SK, Part 28: Hub City Lithium operating direct lithium extraction pilot in Estevan (2024)

Lithium in SK, Part 28: Hub City Lithium operating direct lithium extraction pilot in Estevan (1)

Brian Zinchuk

Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online

Lithium in SK, Part 28: Hub City Lithium operating direct lithium extraction pilot in Estevan (2)

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.

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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ROK Resources plans on six wells after breakup

Lithium in SK, Part 27: Lithium Bank sells Estevan area land to unnamed buyer

Lithium in SK, Part 26: Enter the big boys: 70-year-old Denison Mines buys into Grounded Lithium’s Kindersley project

Lithium in SK Part 25: Primacy of rights, revisited

Lithium in SK, Part 24: Hub City Lithium releases preliminary economic assessment for Viewfield project

Lithium in SK, Part 23: November Crown land sale shows expanding positions

Lithium in SK, Part 22: Arizona Lithium is running its pilot plant for Torquay project, elaborates on commercialization plans for 2025

Lithium in SK, Part 21: Arizona Lithium begins work on future commercial site near Torquay

Lithium in SK, Part 20: Hub City Lithium again finds some of the high concentrations in Canada, announcing second test well results

Lithium in SK, Part 19: Grounded Lithium’s Kindersley project could cost $447 million to build, but bring in $350 million per year

Lithium in SK, Part 18: Hub City Lithium drills second targeted well in Viewfield area, near Stoughton

Lithium in SK, Part 17: Lithium prices have come down … to only US$70,000 a tonne. A decade ago, they were US$7,000

Lithium in SK, Part 16: Arizona Lithium closes Prairie Lithium deal

Lithium in SK, Part 15: Grounded Lithium lays out its development plan

Lithium in SK, Part 14: Prairie Lithium gets federal money, acquisition deal to close soon

Lithium in SK, Part 13B: Hub City announces highest lithium concentration to date, by a significant margin

Lithium in SK: Part 13: Coming into lithium with revenue already flowing from oil

Lithium in SK, Part 12: Hub City Lithium shows promising results northeast of Weyburn

Lithium in SK, Part 11: A detailed video on lithium geology in SE Sask

Lithium in SK, Part 10: A helium explorer who found lithium responds

Lithium in SK, Part 9: And the acquisitions begin, with Prairie Lithium to be acquired by Arizona Lithium

Lithium in SK, Part 8: Ministry of Energy and Resources response to primacy of rights issues

Lithium in SK: Part 7b: The rent’s due, and so is the LLR

Lithium in SK, Part 7: Dealing with an embarrassment of riches – sorting out the primacy of rights

Lithium in SK, Part 6: Direct Lithium Extraction is the multi-billion dollar question

Lithium in SK, Part 5: Prairie Lithium – Old wells or new wells?

Lithium in SK, Part 4: Prairie Lithium pursuing the idea there could be lithium in those brines

Lithium in SK, Part 3: Crown land sale reveals sixth entrant in Saskatchewan lithium exploration race

Lithium in SK, Part 2: Saskatchewan government launches lithium incentives

Lithium in SK Part 1: As the race for lithium takes off, Saskatchewan is seeing the dawn of a new industry

Lithium in SK, Part 28: Hub City Lithium operating direct lithium extraction pilot in Estevan (2024)
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