mal wieder etwas Neues zum Thema Pure Energy
da sieht man einmal wie brutal das da auf diesem Markt abgeht - da gibt es den grossen Player Albermarle, welcher die Wasserrechte besitzt und mit der alten Technik Lithium gewinnt mit unverantwortlich grossem und dreckigen Wasserbedarf. Und mitten drin ist da Pure Energy Minerals mit Frau Little, welche mit Schlumberber eine saubere Lithiumgewinnung in einer Pilotanlage auf den Markt bringen möchte.
Da wird seit längerem jetzt für das Recht auf Wasserkontingent geklagt und der Laden steht quasi still und das verschlingt viele Kosten.
Bin gespannt wie das ausgehen wird, obwohl ich rechtzeitig den Absprung aus dieser Aktie geschafft habe. Eigentlich traurig wie hier etwas Innovatives einfach bekämpft wird
hier ein Auszug aus einem Bericht im Internet
"Mary Little
Raised in Virginia, Little said she knew as a child she wanted to be a scientist, and her parents didn't distinguish in their expectations for her and two brothers.
She loved chemistry and physics, especially envisioning complex systems in three dimensions. She planned to get a doctoral degree but became fascinated with using core samples and seismic data to figure out where valuable ore might be hiding.
"It was just a lightbulb that went off," Little said. "And, at the time, it wasn't lithium—it was copper."
After working on an exploration job in Michigan, Little wound up getting hired by Atlantic Richfield for a dream job in Chile.
Little was the first woman hired in the domestic metals section, but doesn't talk about sexism the way Hersh does, saying only, "I had problems, particularly in the first years. ... You always make choices. I wouldn't change anything."
She spent 15 years in South America chasing copper and gold.
Around 2014, she switched her attention to lithium. "It was never about the money," Little said. "There were real problems that needed to be solved... The magic is what's happening now in our industry, and how it's going to affect lives."
Little was invited to join the board of Pure Energy Minerals, which she saw as an emerging leader in lithium extraction from brine. The company secured 950 claims in Clayton Valley.
By 2018, bore samples and test wells had verified heavy concentrations of lithium at multiple depths on Pure Energy's claims.
But that's where the fight with the land baron comes in.
Albermarle Corp., based in North Carolina, operates a lithium project called Silver Peak. It's the only commercially producing lithium brine project in North America. It sits in Clayton Valley, right in the middle of Pure Energy's claims. And Albemarle extracts lithium from the briny water in the classic fashion: It lets the water evaporate.
The brine-pumping method used by Albemarle expends huge volumes of water, requires a year to 18 months for evaporation.
Pure Energy began working with companies on direct lithium extraction, a new process to glean the mineral from water without the delays and ecological impact of evaporation ponds, and then pump most of the water directly back into the ground.
Pure Energy, contends its technique recovers lithium in hours rather than months.
Little, who became Pure Energy's lead director, said development has been slowed by COVID-19 and regulatory delays. The brine-mining boom in Clayton Valley created manpower shortages and competition for equipment.
But there's an even bigger catch: Pure Energy has only secured a permit to pump 50 acre-feet of water annually—enough for a test plant, but not commercial production.
More than a half-century ago, long before Albemarle acquired the site, Nevada's state engineering office calculated the annual water capacity in Clayton Valley at 20,000 acre feet. And every drop was granted in permits to Albemarle's predecessor.
Today, at least 20 companies boast claims in the basin. Pure Energy is among those to legally challenge the allotment, triggering a modern-day version of the range war only with lawyers instead of gunfighters.
"It is skullduggery," said Warren Stanyer, president of Nevada Sunrise, which spent years in an unsuccessful bid to wrestle away some of Albemarle's brine rights. "Mark Twain said, 'Whiskey's for drinking, but water's for fightin' over...' It's a war."
Little declined to talk about the legal issues, but in 2019 her company protested when the state engineer renewed Albemarle's water permit.
Pure Energy contended that the engineer's office was being used "as a pawn to maintain a monopoly," adding that "Albemarle's sole purpose of continuing to hold water that it cannot and will not use is economic warfare—if no other companies can access water rights in Clayton Valley then Albemarle will be able to continue its reign as the only producing lithium mine in Nevada."
Albemarle, in response to questions about its mining operations, wrote in a statement that is has "been going through the process of proving up full beneficial use" of its water rights. "Unfortunately, that process has been slowed by tactics and allegations from other parties looking to obtain rights to that same water," the company said.
It said the aquifer water in the Silver Peak area is already highly salty—four times as salty as seawater—thus the presence of lithium. "These brine aquifers are not able to be used for drinking water, agricultural, or irrigation water." While the site also taps an uphill freshwater source, the company said, "approximately 97.5% of the groundwater usage at Silver Peak is brine."
Albemarle's president of the lithium business unit, Eric Norris, recently announced major expansion plans that would double production and use all of the valley's water allotment.
Little shook her head at that prediction. "Well, they've said that, but they haven't done it," she noted. "And there's room for multiple players to win with brine."
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