Posted on 13 Apr 2023
General Motors via GM Ventures, its venture capital arm, is leading a $50 million second round of financing for Energy Exploration Technologies (EnergyX), a Florida-based lithium supply start-up, Kallanish reports.
The Michigan-based automaker has also signed agreements to develop EnergyX’s lithium extraction and refinery technology and to secure lithium offtake shipments from EnergyX lithium projects. The agreements come as GM is ramping up its production of electric vehicles as automakers fret about availability of lithium, nickel and cobalt for EV batteries.
EnergyX says it will use the new money to build five larger demonstration plants in the Americas, followed by full commercialisation of its technology. It has a pilot plant in South America.
EnergyX says it has developed a direct lithium extraction technology that can extract lithium from brine and claystone much more efficiently than current processes. It is a cost-effective and sustainable way “to unlock a vast lithium supply chain in North America that may otherwise be unviable,” the companies say in a statement.
“We are committed to securing EV critical minerals that are sustainable and cost competitive to maintain our leadership position among automakers,” says Jeff Morrison, GM vice president of global purchasing and supply chain.
EnergyX is building an innovation and manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas. It also has operations in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Its South American pilot plant has extracted up to 90% of lithium from brine, superior to the 30-40% typically achieved using evaporation ponds, it says. The company has 50 employees and that is expected to double to 100 in the coming months, it says.
Source:Kallanish
