THE
WOODLANDS, Texas, Sept. 21,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TETRA Technologies, Inc.
("TETRA" or the "Company") (NYSE: TTI) announced the completion of
its maiden inferred bromine and lithium brine resource estimation
report for its brine minerals leased acreage in the Smackover
Formation in Southwest Arkansas.
The technical report summary, which is available in its entirety on
TETRA's website Investor Relations - Presentations (tetratec.com),
reflects the following:
- The brine resource underlying the approximately 40,000 gross
acres where TETRA holds the bromine mineral rights is estimated to
contain an inferred resource of 5.25 million short tons (4.763
million metric tonnes) of elemental bromine; and
- The brine resource underlying the approximately 5,000 gross
acres where TETRA holds lithium mineral rights that are not subject
to a lithium option agreement with Standard Lithium, is estimated
to contain an inferred resource of 44,000 short tons (40,000 metric
tonnes) of elemental lithium. Using a conversion factor of 5.323 to
convert elemental lithium to Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) it
is estimated to contain 234,000 short tons of LCE (212,000 metric
tonnes of LCE).
The maiden TETRA bromine and lithium brine resource estimations
are presented as total resource within the Upper Smackover Member
underlying the TETRA property. Resource estimations were completed
and reported using cutoffs of 250 mg/liter bromine and 50 mg/liter
lithium.
Brady Murphy, President and Chief
Executive Officer, said "This maiden inferred resources report
increases our confidence that we have a valuable TETRA asset with
two key minerals that are critical to the current and future global
energy needs. With an oil and gas recovery that we believe is in
the early stages of a multi-year up cycle, coupled with the
projected 30% CAGR(1) for the energy storage market in
the coming years, 5.25 million tons (or 10.5 billion pounds) of
elemental bromine inferred resource, if successfully extracted,
could allow us to meet the growing demand for our offshore
completion fluids market and for our patented TETRA
PureFlow® ultra-pure zinc bromide clear brine fluid that
is a critical electrolyte component for long-duration energy
storage. At our West Memphis,
Arkansas chemical plant, TETRA has been and is converting
elemental bromine into high value offshore completion fluids
(including its patented TETRA CS Neptune® fluids
technology) and more recently into PureFlow®. Extracting
commercial quantities of bromine from the Smackover Formation in
Arkansas is a well-established
process with existing technologies and has been done for over 50
years. TETRA has held these Arkansas brine leases since the mid-1980's and
is now pursuing development plans to enable TETRA to meet expected
future bromine needs. For reference, 10.5 billion pounds represents
approximately 380 years of supply when benchmarked to our average
annual consumption over the past 15 years. Any amounts of bromine
that we are able to extract and use from this formation would be in
addition to the volumes of elemental bromine we are currently
buying under an existing long-term agreement. Intratec
recently reported that the price of elemental bromine in the U.S.
was approximately $4,300 per short
ton.
"With battery grade LCE spot market prices of approximately
$71,600 per ton as reported in a
recent research report by Canaccord Genuity Capital Markets and an
average selling price of approximately $58,000 per short ton from a recent second
quarter financial results report of a large publicly traded
international lithium producer, a lithium asset of this magnitude,
if all of the lithium were realized, would provide TETRA a
significant opportunity to expand our products portfolio in the
fast growing battery market. TETRA has identified a direct lithium
extraction (DLE) technology based on adsorption/desorption using a
proven, commercially available resin that is currently being
successfully used in commercial lithium extraction operations from
salar brines. Using our lithium-rich Arkansas brine samples from our recently
completed test well, our inferred resource report details the
excellent DLE laboratory and pilot unit results from our research
group at our TETRA Innovation Group Technology Center in
Conroe, Texas.
"The inferred resource report also confirms that the Smackover
Formation is enriched in bromine (an average of 5,371 mg/liter) and
lithium (an average of 416 mg/liter), which we expected based on
our previously disclosed test well fluid sampling results. Based on
the recent test well drilled on the TETRA 5,000 acres, the brine
samples from the Upper Smackover Member within that well yielded
the highest recorded lithium values (461-489 mg/liter) within the
Upper Smackover Member, which may indicate uniquely elevated
lithium brine within the targeted acreage where TETRA retains both
the bromine and lithium rights.
"Our next steps are to complete a bromine front end engineering
and design (FEED) study that is already underway, drill the source
and disposal wells, build the pipeline infrastructure and build an
elemental bromine extraction plant. We intend to complete a
Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the bromine extraction
plant this year. Starting in 2023, we will begin work on a lithium
FEED study and a PEA for a lithium extraction plant to enable
extraction of lithium from our dedicated 5,000 gross acres."
Readers are encouraged to read the entire maiden inferred
resource estimation report available on our website to understand
the methodology and robustness of the process to arrive at the
findings referenced in this press release.
(1) Source: Bloomberg
Company Overview
TETRA Technologies, Inc. is an industrial and oil & gas
products and services company operating on six continents focused
on bromine-based completion fluids, calcium chloride, water
management solutions, frac flowback and production well testing
services. Calcium chloride is used in the oil and gas, industrial,
agricultural, road, food, and beverage markets. TETRA is evolving
its business model by expanding into the low carbon energy markets
with its chemistry expertise, key mineral acreage, and global
infrastructure. Low carbon energy initiatives include
commercialization of TETRA PureFlow® an ultra-pure zinc
bromide clear brine fluid for stationary batteries and energy
storage; advancing an innovative carbon capture utilization and
storage technology with CarbonFree to capture CO2 and mineralize
emissions to make commercial, carbon-negative chemicals; and
development of TETRA's lithium and bromine mineral acreage to meet
the growing demand for oil and gas products and energy storage.
Visit the Company's website at www.tetratec.com for more
information.
Cautionary Statement Regarding
Forward Looking Statements
This news release includes certain statements that are deemed to
be forward-looking statements. Generally, the use of words such as
"may," "see," "expectation," "expect," "intend," "estimate,"
"projects," "anticipate," "believe," "assume," "could," "should,"
"plans," "targets" or similar expressions that convey the
uncertainty of future events, activities, expectations or outcomes
identify forward-looking statements that the Company intends to be
included within the safe harbor protections provided by the federal
securities laws. These forward-looking statements include
statements concerning economic and operating conditions that are
outside of our control, including statements concerning recovery of
the oil and gas industry; customer delays for international
completion fluids related to global shipping and logistics issues;
potential revenue associated with prospective energy storage
projects or our pending carbon capture partnership; inferred
mineral resources of lithium and bromine, the potential extraction
of lithium and bromine from the leased acreage, the economic
viability thereof, the demand for such resources, and the timing
and costs of such activities; the ability to obtain a preliminary
economic assessment regarding our lithium and bromine acreage;
projections concerning the Company's business activities, financial
guidance, estimated earnings, earnings per share, and statements
regarding the Company's beliefs, expectations, plans, goals, future
events and performance, and other statements that are not purely
historical. With respect to the Company's disclosures of inferred
mineral resources, including bromine and lithium carbonate
equivalent concentrations, it is uncertain if further exploration
will ever result in the estimation of a higher category of mineral
resource or a mineral reserve. Inferred mineral resources are
considered to have the lowest level of geological confidence of all
mineral resources. Investors are cautioned that mineral resources
do not have demonstrated economic value. Inferred mineral resources
have a high degree of uncertainty as to their existence and to
whether they can be economically or legally commercialized. Under
the SEC's rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not
form the basis of an economic analysis. A significant amount of
exploration must be completed in order to determine whether an
inferred mineral resource may be upgraded to a higher category.
Therefore, you are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of
an inferred mineral resource exists, that it can be economically or
legally commercialized, or that it will ever be upgraded to a
higher category. These forward-looking statements are based on
certain assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of
its experience and its perception of historical trends, current
conditions, expected future developments and other factors it
believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Such statements are
subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are
beyond the control of the Company. Investors are cautioned that any
such statements are not guarantees of future performances or
results and that actual results or developments may differ
materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
Some of the factors that could affect actual results are described
in the section titled "Risk Factors" contained in the Company's
Annual Reports on Form 10-K, as well as other risks identified from
time to time in its reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Technical Person
Statement
The technical information relating to the mineral resource
estimations presented in this news release has been reviewed and
approved by Mr. Roy Eccles P. Geol.
of APEX Geoscience Ltd. Mr. Eccles is independent of TETRA and a
Qualified Person as defined by the Securities and Exchange
Commission in S-K 1300.
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SOURCE TETRA Technologies, Inc.