MGX Minerals
Announces
Phase Two Development of
Silicon Based Anode for High-Energy Lithium-Ion
Batteries
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA /
February
26,
2019
/
MGX Minerals Inc. ("MGX" or the
"Company") (CSE:
XMG /
FKT: 1MG /
OTCQB: MGXMF)
reported
today that its
collaborative
research
partnership
with the
University of British Columbia ("UBC")
has
completed a
comprehensive
baseline
assessment of metallurgical silicon originating from
each of
the
Company's three
silicon
projects
in
southeastern British Columbia. MGX and UBC are
working together to develop next-generation
Li-ion batteries capable of quadrupling energy density from current
100 Wh/kg
up to 400 Wh/kg
for use in long-range electric vehicles and grid
storage.
With the Phase
One assessment completed, Phase
two of the
collaborative is now
underway
and
will focus on
developing a scalable
process to upgrade metallurgical silicon
originating
from MGX's projects to
battery-grade silicon
anode. The
developed silicon
anode will
serve as a viable replacement over the
present
graphite anode and enable higher-energy-density lithium-ion
batteries for numerous
applications,
including
electric
vehicles, grid storage, telecommunication, wireless sensors
and
more.
About the Research Initiative
The
objective of the MGX/UBC research consortium is to
develop
a
low-cost
and scalable
method that will
fabricate a
silicon-based
anode to improve
the
energy density of Li-ion
batteries. The two-year research program seeks to
focus on
1) fabricating
nanostructured silicon using
low-cost metallurgical
silicon as a feedstock and 2)
compositing
nanostructured
silicon with commercial graphite to develop
a
high-performance
silicon anode. The
initial
goal of the research
is to replace the graphite anode with silicon and complete a hybrid
in the short-term which will not require industry
retooling.
The ultimate
goal is to
enable
next-generation Li-ion
batteries capable of quadrupling
energy density from current 100 Wh/kg
up to 400
Wh/kg
for use in long-range electric vehicles and grid
storage.
Dr.
Jian Liu,
Assistant
Professor in the School of Engineering at UBC
Okanagan,
is
leading
a
research
group focused
on
advanced
materials for energy storage. Dr. Liu
was previously
the
technical lead for
development of
surface coating materials by atomic
and
molecular layer deposition, and their applications in surface and
interface engineering on the anode and cathode of Li-ion batteries
and beyond, at Western
University and Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory.
MGX Silicon Projects
MGX
operates
three silicon projects in southeastern British
Columbia- Koot, Wonah
and Gibraltar. A one-ton
sample of quartzite from the Company's Gibraltar project was
recently
shipped to the
independent lab Dorfner
Anzaplan
("Dorfner")
in Germany for mineralogical analyses. Dorfner
conducted X-ray
diffraction analysis, chemical analyses through X-ray fluorescence
spectroscopy, grain size distribution, mineral processing analysis,
automated optical sorting and thermal stability testing. Results
indicated
that the
material, after comminution and classification fraction, is of high
initial purity (99.5 wt.-%), making the fraction chemically
suitable as medium quality feedstock material for
metallurgical-grade silicon production.
About MGX Minerals Inc.
MGX
Minerals is a diversified Canadian resource and technology company
with interests in global advanced material,
energy
and
water assets.
Contact Information
Jared
Lazerson
President and
CEO
Telephone:
1.604.681.7735
Web:
www.mgxminerals.com
Neither the
Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider
(as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities
Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking information or
forward-looking statements (collectively "forward-looking
information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws.
Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such
as: "believe",
"expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "potentially" and
similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to
future events. The Company cautions investors that any
forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a
guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results
may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as
a result of various factors. The reader is referred to the
Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such
risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed
through the Company's profile on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com.