Last week, we participated in the Barclays ESG Conference, including meetings with leading institutional investors and energy companies interested in KMX’s lithium concentration and water treatment technology.
We’re pleased to share some of our key takeaways from the conference and various investor questions here.
I personally enjoyed being with old colleagues at Barclays and was thrilled to see the enthusiasm for solutions to the energy transition at the conference, including KMX’s vacuum membrane distillation technology.
KMX’s Key Takeaways from the Barclays ESG Conference
Continued demand for conventional energy coupled with a growing need for new energy sources was a reoccurring theme of the conference. A dual focus on energy security as well as sustainability was reiterated throughout the event.
As a result, it was not surprising to receive so much interest in KMX’s multiple applications for the conventional energy and new energy landscapes.
What Are Some of KMX’s Applications for the Energy Transition (outside of lithium)?
While lithium concentration is KMX’s core market focus, the company has a number of applications spanning the energy industry, including oil & gas (upstream and downstream), power & utilities, and even carbon capture.
As part of our investor meetings, we also met with large and forward-thinking energy companies that are eager to tap into KMX’s technology for these traditional and new energy applications.
Where Does KMX Fit in the Lithium Value-Chain?
The illustration below shows the three-step process in bringing lithium from brine to battery grade lithium. KMX achieves the critical second step: concentrating lithium following the Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) process (or following the legacy evaporative pond process).
Figure 1: Three-Step Process in Bringing Lithium from Brine to Battery Grade Lithium
Source: KMX Technologies
How is KMX Helping the Oil & Gas Industry?
The role of hydrocarbons in the energy transition was another focal point for the conference, with various speakers, including former Energy Secretary, Dr. Ernest Moniz, highlighting the strong continual role the oil & gas industry will play in the global economy.
Beneficial reuse (recycling produced water, which is a mineral-rich byproduct of oil & gas production, for use outside the oilfield) is driving demand for KMX’s technology among oil & gas companies that are aiming to instill best water practices, particularly in areas with challenging high total dissolved solids (TDS), as shown in Figure 2 below.
KMX is proud to have partnered with TETRA Technologies, the leading water recycling company with a growing portfolio of critical mineral assets, for beneficial reuse.
Figure 2: Highest producing and highest growth basins (Permian, Bakken, Marcellus) are high-TDS
Source: Scanlon et al, 2020
The potential for monetizing lithium found in low concentrations in produced water with KMX’s technology presents another way for traditional energy companies to participate in the energy transition.
Figure 3: Lithium Concentration in water from unconventional oil & gas in the U.S. and some oilfield brines
Source: Kumar, Fukuda, Hatton, and Leinhard
Key Investor Questions:
Some of questions we received from investors included:
- How are higher water standards and regulations impacting demand for your technology?
- Which countries are you most excited about for lithium production?
- What are the competing technologies?
- How has the technology changed and improved over prior generations?
- How could other industries where water is a concern benefit from KMX’s solutions?
- How has the IRA impacted demand for your technology?
- How is KMX’s IP protected?
- How will the cost advantages change over time?
- What are the benefits of KMX’s manufacturing partner, Sumitomo Electric?
For insights into these questions, or for access to our presentation from the Barclays ESG Conference, feel free to reach out at:
What’s Next:
We are grateful to the Barclays team for hosting us for such a great event, and for all of the interested groups that took the time to learn about KMX!
We look forward to providing more operational and commercial updates in the months ahead, including insights into our diversification strategy, our lithium demonstrations, and commercial manufacturing developments.
– Zac
Zachary Sadow
CEO
KMX Technologies