Zelandez has partnered with the Argentinian province of Catamarca in an agreement to provide modular prefabricated plants for the South American nation’s top lithium-producing province.
The partnership links the world’s leading lithium brine technology provider with Catamarca’s mining and energy company.
Prefabricated lithium carbonate production plants form the partnership’s central element, which Zelandez will build in the United States.
Gene Morgan, Zelandez’s chief executive, says a formal partnership with CAMYEN felt like a natural progression for the two organizations and a “major win for stakeholders in the Argentinian lithium industry and its supply line to the United States.”
"Zelandez has long been serving clients in the state of Catamarca, and we have enjoyed the pragmatic way that the region seeks to assist local lithium production,” Morgan says. “This partnership aims to help all our clients in the region."
"We welcome this engagement with Zelandez as a way to continue to add value to the province's lithium resources, create jobs, and generate export income," Susana Prelate Molina, the president of CAMYEN, says.
The agreement will also see Zelandez and CAMYEN team up to facilitate future project finance partnerships from the United States, Europe, and Japan. Under Argentinian law, provinces retain mineral resource rights.
By 2027, Argentina is estimated to grow lithium production significantly, surpassing Chile as the world’s second-largest lithium producer. Today, around 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) is produced annually from Catamarca’s brinefields, representing more than half of Argentina’s overall production. Most the nation’s lithium brine exploration projects also occur in the province.
Catamarca is located at the heart of South America’s "Lithium Triangle," which contains more than 60% of the world’s total lithium reserves in brine formations. South American brine-sourced lithium is considered the lowest-cost source of the battery-critical element.
About Zelandez
Zelandez is the leading services provider to the lithium brine industry. The company provides a comprehensive suite of advanced resource exploration and production tools. Zelandez also offers complete wrap-around integrated services for lithium mining companies designed to accelerate the path to lithium production. Zelandez works with leading lithium mining companies in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, the United States, and Canada.
About CAMYEN
CAMYEN is the mining and energy company of Catamarca Argentina, and its main objective is the development of Catamarca's mining and energy, through the sustainable use of natural resources and the preservation of the environment while society continues developing. CAMYEN holds mining rights by way of business contracts and company collaborations in the lithium market in the region.
Learn more about Zelandez here.
Media team
June 29, 2024
Press
Austin, Texas, March 5, 2024 — Zelandez, the leading provider of technology to the
lithium brine industry, today announced the availability of its new Borehole Formation
Tester (BFT) to lithium developers worldwide.
The BFT is the world’s slimmest pump-through formation tester designed to specifically address lithium miners’ needs by measuring aquifer pressure, analyzing fluids downhole in real-time, and obtaining representative brine samples. It significantly reduces the costs of lithium brine development when compared to the less accurate incumbent ‘packer testing method’.
Lithium developers will no longer depend on large expensive rig-deployed sampling, which has high supply costs, to retrieve brine samples from below ground. The BFT reduces the time needed to sample quality lithium brine. Contaminated brine samples will become a thing of the past.
The BFT provides detailed pressure and productivity data and allows clients' hydrogeology teams to optimize brine and lithium production. It speeds up the development period required to bring lithium to market at a lower cost.
Currently, no product or service offers lithium operations the level of pressure measurement, fluid characterization, and reservoir testing that the BFT does.
“The world needs more lithium. The old way of sampling lithium was just too slow and too cumbersome. It was making it hard to find new lithium brine resources and to bring more lithium to market. The Borehole Formation Tester changes that - it changes the game for lithium developers. The BFT is another example of Zelandez innovating specifically for the needs of the lithium market,” said Gene Morgan, CEO of Zelandez.
“The BFT was built to address the specific challenges of aquifer testing and fluid sampling in lithium brine exploration and production. Instead of it taking weeks, it delivers results within hours or days.”
The BFT enables the lithium mining industry to conduct rigless pressure and permeability testing and fluid sampling in slim boreholes down to 122mm (PQ). The BFT provides testing and sampling in low permeability, laminated, fractured, unconsolidated, and heterogeneous formations. It enhances lithium miners’ decision- making by delivering real-time access to actionable aquifer data. Through enhanced definition of the complex sub-surfaces poor well deliverability is mitigated.
It also enables miners to understand better and meet their reinjection requirements.
“While Formation Testers are commonplace in the Oil and Gas industry, their size and cost have made them impractical for use in the brinefield. The BFT has miniaturized this technology for lithium miners” adds Morgan.
Zelandez’s BFT serves the testing and sampling needs of the lithium brine, groundwater, hard rock, coal seam gas, natural hydrogen, and helium sectors.
Zelandez is the leader in brinefield services and provides a comprehensive suite of technology for lithium brine explorers and producers, including full wrap-around integrated project management, modular lithium production plants, sensors, and expert geoscience and engineering know-how. Zelandez works with the majority of lithium mining companies in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and North America.
For More Information
Matt Adams
BFT Director of Sales
Tel: +61 467 726 027
E-Mail: [email protected]
Matt Adams
March 19, 2024
Uncategorized
Zelandez, the leading global provider of services to the lithium brine industry, today announced the appointment of Kerry McCallum as the company’s United States (U.S) Country Manager and Brinefield Management Lead. Melissa Reichard is the new North American Business Development Lead. All appointments are essential components of the company’s business growth objectives for the North American region and will assist Zelandez to capitalize on the solid growth in US-based lithium development.
McCallum has nearly 20 years of experience in technology and exploration and will be responsible for new customer engagement, business growth, and customer relationship management across the U.S and Canada. Previously McCallum worked for Palantir Technologies and the Dewhurst Group. He has an MSc in Engineering Management from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
“The lithium industry in the United States and Canada is at an inspiring stage. As North America continues to build its critical mineral independence, particularly in lithium, there will be a greater demand for the specialized services and technology that Zelandez provides to the lithium brine sector. I’m excited to take advantage of these business opportunities and work alongside the great team that we are building in North America. We will be focusing on assisting some of the best mining companies in the region to achieve their lithium production objectives,” says McCallum.
Melissa brings over ten years of experience in engineering and sales positions in the global Oil and Gas sector and will be responsible for driving the growth of Zelandez in the North American market. Most recently, she led business development across the Western Hemisphere at WireCo. She has also built her experience at BK Corrosion and Baker Hughes. Melissa holds a chemical engineering degree from the Universidad de America, Bogota, Colombia
Zelandez recently announced the launch of its new specialized lithium brine recycling service. Critical challenges impacting the US domestic lithium mining industry is what drove the company’s expansion to North America. Its’ client base includes industry giants such as Rio Tinto, Albemarle, and Allkem. Zelandez holds a dominant position as the world’s provider of lithium brinefield services.
Kerry McCallum
February 6, 2024
Uncategorized
Gene Morgan, co-founder and CEO of Zelandez, is featured in an exclusive article in this month's issue of North American Mining. Gene's article details how older lithium mines can help the United States achieve alternative energy independence. Gene discusses how older processes and technologies used in lithium mines should be avoided. He also explains why there should be greater adoption of newer technologies and processes, such as direct lithium extraction, that will help increase lithium production and modernize aging U.S. lithium mines. It also addresses the importance of monitoring brine and freshwater levels to verify that brine pumping is not adversely affecting water systems. Finally, the article also addresses the critical importance of human capital in the lithium mining sector. With the growth in demand for lithium-dependent energy sources, especially electric vehicles, this is a very relevant article.
You can read the article in North American Mining here: What's old can be new again
Kerry McCallum
February 7, 2024
Press
Gene Morgan, CEO de Zelandez, se sentó con Adrian Pocobelli, el presentador del podcast de Northern Miner. Durante la entrevista, Gene y Adrian trataron una amplia gama de temas relacionados con el litio, que puedes escuchar aquí. La discusión se centró en 3 áreas principales:
1. Los avances tecnológicos que están permitiendo conocer mejor los recursos de litio y facilitando la mejora de los procesos de extracción.
2. Cómo la Ley de Reducción de la Inflación de Estados Unidos está facilitando el crecimiento de las cadenas de suministro nacionales y el valor que éstas añadirán a medida que el país se prepara para satisfacer la futura demanda y los requisitos de suministro de los vehículos eléctricos.
3. Los retos que plantean la lentitud de los permisos y la falta de talento cualificado
Vea la entrevista en podcast aquí
Kerry McCallum
August 25, 2023
Interview
Austin, Texas, August 23, 2023— Zelandez, the leading global provider of services to the lithium brine industry, today announced the availability of its new specialized lithium brine reinjection service. The innovative new service, believed to be an industry first, combines hydrochemistry with traditional reinjection techniques used extensively in the oil and gas market and deployed in lithium mines.
The tailored service will provide lithium brine extractors with a full characterization of their reservoirs and optimize the location of injector wells and producer wells. It also includes the design of a reinjection plan that maintains aquifer pressure, ensures the production of preferred brines, whilst also protecting freshwater assets.
The global demand for sustainable sources of lithium has created a race to develop “Direct Lithium Extraction” technologies (DLE). This is typically used by lithium brine extractors to separate lithium from the salty water held in oil and gas reservoirs and in underground brine aquifers. However, the challenge is that when DLE is used, the lithium producer is left with a lot of depleted brine that must go somewhere and underground reinjection is the obvious solution.
“The impetus behind the development of our specialized lithium brine reinjection service is that the normal methods of reinjection, historically used in the oil and gas industry and borrowed by the lithium industry, are simply not delivering the desired results. We all know that oil doesn’t mix with water and depleted lithium brine is miscible with the underlying asset,” says Gene Morgan, CEO of Zelandez.
During Zelandez’s research and development process, the importance of integrating hydrochemistry into traditional reinjection techniques became very apparent. “This process totally changes the aquifer management plan and enhances protection of freshwater water assets. Our new service takes the lithium brine sector significantly closer to true mastery of the subsurface. So much so, that in the lithium brine market we feel that it really shouldn’t even be called “reinjection.” It’s much more accurate to call what we are doing ‘Brine Recycling,’” says Morgan.
Commenting on Zelandez’s approach, Lee Ann Munk, Geochemical Modelling Lead at Zelandez says, “As the demand for lithium increases, there will be significant attention focused on how lithium brine extractors can effectively manage their byproducts and wastewater. We believe our methodology is groundbreaking and will change the way the industry tackles a challenge that no lithium brine extraction company has managed to adequately resolve – ‘what do you do with depleted brine?’”
Zelandez’s lithium brine reinjection service will enable lithium brine extractors to achieve enhanced levels of environmental stewardship, mining productivity, and resource and risk management.
Zelandez recently entered the North American market. Its US expansion was driven by key issues impacting the US domestic lithium mining industry. The company’s client base includes industry giants such as Rio Tinto, Albemarle, and Allkem. It holds a dominant position as the world’s provider of lithium brinefield services.
Kerry McCallum
August 23, 2023
Press
Already serving the majority of the world’s lithium brine industry, the company will now offer its cutting-edge subsurface sensors, exploration, and extraction solutions to American and Canadian lithium mines, enabling them to develop their brine resources more efficiently. Zelandez holds a commanding presence in the world’s top lithium markets of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, where it serves over 30 lithium mining companies.
Zelandez’s expansion is driven by several factors impacting the domestic lithium mining industry. These include the need for modernization and upgrades in existing US lithium mines; the growing demand for lithium batteries in the United States, projected to be worth $55 billion per year by 2030; the lack of a significant domestic lithium battery supply chain; the US’s reliance on foreign lithium battery suppliers; and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Gene Morgan, CEO of Zelandez, says, “It’s time to upgrade lithium production in North America. The challenge of US lithium supply constraints presents an enormous opportunity for our bespoke lithium technology and solutions. Our extensive experience serving lithium mining companies in the South American lithium triangle places us in an ideal position to make a significant contribution to the North American lithium industry. This is critical for the world’s energy transition. We are optimistic for the North American market this decade.”
Unlike many of its competitors that provide lithium miners with one-dimensional data, Zelandez sets itself apart with specialist lithium technology that delivers comprehensive geophysical data analysis and interpretation. “Our competitors offer raw data often from equipment not designed for lithium, leaving clients with the difficult task of deciphering the information,” says Morgan. “Our specialized lithium technology provides actionable insights that clients can implement immediately. It’s important that the US lithium miners are provided with reliable information. This will facilitate the streamlining of the U.S lithium supply chain from extraction to manufacturing.”
Zelandez’s client roster includes industry giants such as Rio Tinto, Albemarle, and Allkem. Its North American headquarters are located in Austin, Texas.
Zelandez specializes in lithium brine exploration and extraction technology that enhances mining operations. Utilizing advanced geophysical technologies, such as borehole magnetic resonance, and expert geoscience knowledge, the company provides critical subsurface insights. Its range of services include aquifer characterization and testing, spent brine reinjection strategies, well diagnostics and recovery, exploration and development services, below-ground and above-ground sensors, and evaporation pond monitoring solutions.
View original article here
Shannon Smith
June 8, 2023
Press
Choose Zelandez for your lithium brine project
