Dear Shareholder,
I have recently completed my first year as the Chief Executive Officer of International Battery Metals Ltd. (“IBAT”), and I am pleased to provide you with an update on the IBAT’s accomplishments.
On the operations side we have had quite a bit of activity. As you know in September of last year, we announced the results of the high-level due diligence report of our patent protected Modular Direct Lithium Extraction Process that was developed by Dr. John Burba. The full SLR report can be accessed through our website www.ibatterymetals.com.
This was a significant milestone validating our performance testing proving out an extraction rate of 98% and a recovery rate ranging from 68% to 85%, which through additional testing this year we validated a 95% recovery rate of LCL. We are now in the final stages of pre-commissioning and commissioning activities on the plant readying it for potential deployment later this year. To that point, we continue to have productive conversations with several oil field brine producers to deploy and operate our first DLE plant on their location late 4th quarter 2023.
Looking ahead, I believe the push for achieving Net Zero by 2050 will continue to fuel the growth of electric vehicles. S&P Global Mobility forecasts electric vehicle sales in the United States could reach 40% of total car sales by 2030 putting further pressure on lithium producers to meet the demand of the market. This demand will not be met by the existing production capacity and technology. This is where IBAT’s suite of patents, proprietary technology and operational process trade secrets will potentially provide a solution to meet the demand for a faster, safer, and more environmentally friendly solution for producing lithium chloride.
Speaking of our technology, we recently engaged a Patent Attorney Group who will be working with us to identify potential patents to further protect our investments while examining the patents held by our competitors. The goal of this effort is to fully understand the technology landscape and ensure we are able to monitor the industry and extend and defend our technology advantage.
Led by Dr. Burba and with our partners at Impact Engineering, we will soon begin our front end engineering and design activities to develop a Generation 2 DLE plant which will be capable of producing up to 20K MT of lithium chloride per annum. We are making plans to raise sufficient funds to enable the construction of multiple copies of our Gen 1 and Gen 2 plants to ensure we can build momentum off our initial plant deployment.
We are aware IBAT stock has been under significant pressure from short sellers and about six weeks ago, we launched an investigation into this activity in order to identify the source of short selling activity and take the necessary steps to prevent it going forward.
This week IBAT filed an Annual Information Form with the British Columbia Securities Commission due in part to IBAT’s ongoing development of its Module Direct Lithium Extraction Unit, as well as the IBAT’s ongoing strive to ensure it maintains the highest disclosure standards. Additionally, IBAT believes that the filing of the Annual Information Form reflects a positive step in IBAT’s growth that will provide IBAT with greater exposure to the investment community, including institutional investors in both Canada and the United States.
In closing, we greatly value your ongoing support and patience as we navigate through various projects and finalize important deals. As these endeavors continue to unfold, we anticipate sharing further details and updates. We encourage you to stay connected with us by visiting our website for the latest information. Your continued interest and involvement are integral to our progress and we look forward to keeping your informed as developments occur.
