International Battery Metals Ltd. Completes Acquisition of Intellectual Property Related to Oil Field Brine Lithium Extraction
Vancouver, April 13, 2018 - International Battery Metals Ltd. (CSE:IBAT) ("IBAT" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has completed the previously announced acquisition (the "Acquisition") of Selective Adsorption Lithium, Inc. ("SAL"), a company that specializes in lithium extraction from oilfield brines (see new release of March 5, 2018). The Acquisition was completed pursuant to a share exchange agreement entered into between the Company, SAL, the shareholders of SAL ("SAL Shareholders") and North American Lithium, Inc. ("NAL"). John Burba, incoming chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of IBAT, stated, "The SAL shareholders and I are thrilled to close this agreement. This is a wonderful opportunity for both companies. More importantly, it is great for the IBAT shareholders. We are ready to create the world's first oilfield lithium exploration and production company."
Logan Anderson stated, "We are very pleased to have finalized the agreement with SAL and to have John Burba and his team working towards advancing their third-generation lithium brine extraction technology."
The SAL technology involves processes that are highly selective for lithium, and an extraction system that allows lithium recovery from complex brines with only minimal pretreatment. Once the oil field brine flows into the system, lithium chloride is removed, and the remainder of the brine is injected back into the ground through an environmentally permitted well.
The output of the patent pending SAL process and system is a high concentration, clean lithium salt solution suitable for further processing into desired products. Additionally, the SAL patent pending process and equipment are specifically designed to operate in the rugged conditions often present at remote oilfield operations. The patent pending SAL technology provides significant advantages including cost savings by minimizing brine pretreatment and through reduced chemical consumption. The unique equipment design also allows for rapid implementation and installation, minimizing the traditional lag time associated with bringing resources on line.
On closing of the Acquisition, the Company issued 4,700,000 common shares to the SAL Shareholders. In addition, upon the achievement of additional milestones, the Company may issue up to an additional 20,609,488 common shares to the SAL Shareholders. The Company has also paid to NAL certain cash payments in respect of the intellectual property acquired. For further particulars of the terms of the Acquisition, please see the Company's news release of March 5, 2018.
Concurrently with the closing of the Acquisition, Jeremy Ross has resigned as a director of the Company. Christina Borgese and John Burba, nominees of North American Lithium, have been appointed as directors of the Company. In addition, Mr. Burba will be appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and Mr. Anderson will be appointed as Chief Financial Officer. On completion of the Acquisition, the board of directors of the Company is now comprised of John Burba, Christina Borgese, Logan Anderson, David Scott and Paul Pederson.
About IBAT
IBAT is an advanced technology company focused on lithium brine extraction. The company is in the process of creating and applying intellectual property related to lithium extraction from oilfield brines for petro-lithium extraction projects. IBAT's unique extraction process is environmentally friendly, low cost, and has the potential to produce high-quality, commercial grade lithium at a much faster rate than the current industry standards.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"Logan Anderson"
Logan Anderson, Director
Phone: (778) 939-4228
Forward-looking statements
This news release of International Battery Metals Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (the "company") includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. There can be no guarantees with respect to pipeline products that the products will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that they will prove to be commercially successful. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of regulation and legislation in the United States and internationally; global trends toward cost containment; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approval; the company's ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of the company's patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions.
The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as required by law. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the company's Annual Report and the company's other filings with the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) available at the CSE's Internet site (www.thecse.com).