VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Western Canada-focused project developer MGX Minerals has acquired rights to sample and analyse brine waters emitted from the Sturgeon Lake oilfield, in north-western Alberta for metallic mineralisation, the company reported Thursday.

Under the agreement, MGX will be able to undertake water sampling at the wellhead and central collection points and it lays the groundwork for future cooperation between MGX and the unnamed operator at Sturgeon Lake.

The property is located directly south and west of the town of Valleyview, and MGX holds 15 contiguous industrial and metallic mineral permits encompassing 132 773.74 ha. Vancouver-based MGX has consolidated most of Alberta's high-grade lithium brine properties, with permits covering most of the highest reported levels of lithium-bearing brine throughout the province, reaching up to 140 mg/ℓ lithium.

The mineral permits overlie the Sturgeon Lake oilfield, which has been producing hydrocarbons since the mid-1950s from the Devonian Leduc Formation at depths of about 2 500 m to 3 100 m below surface. The metallic mineralisation on the property consists of lithium-enriched formation water, or brine, that is hosted in aquifers within Devonian Leduc Formation carbonate reef complexes, MGX advised.

HISTORIC WORK
Government studies in the 1990s to 2010s reported that brine geochemical fluid data from the Devonian aquifers associated with the Leduc Formation have anomalous values of lithium (greater than 75 mg/ℓ and up to 140 mg/ℓ lithium) along with other elements such as potassium, boron and bromine.

MGX noted that during 2011, Lithium Exploration Group sampled and analysed brine from 60 separate wells within the Sturgeon Lake oilfield (and within the boundaries of the permit area acquired by MGX). Of the 62 brine samples collected, 47 were collected from the Leduc Formation. Other samples included brine from Mississippian (one sample from Banff), Triassic (11 samples from Montney, Spray River and undefined), Jurassic (one sample from Nordegg) and Cretaceous (two samples from Wapiabi, Gething) strata.

The analytical results showed that the Devonian Leduc aquifer contains brine that is significantly enriched in lithium in comparison to the Triassic to Cretaceous brine. Lithium Exploration Group work showed that the Leduc Formation brine from the Sturgeon Lake oilfield contained up to 83.7 mg/ℓ lithium (average 67 mg/ℓ lithium); 6 470 mg/ℓ potassium (average 4 641 mg/ℓ potassium); 137 mg/ℓ boron (average 114 mg/ℓ boron); and 394 mg/ℓ bromine (average 394 mg/ℓ bromine).

These values supported and confirmed the government published lithium-enriched formation waters within the boundaries of the Sturgeon Lake property.

PILOT CONSTRUCTION
MGX believes that Sturgeon Lake represents a primary candidate for deployment of a pilot plant test unit now under construction.

The system, which was reported to be 50% complete in November, is designed to extract lithium and other valuable minerals from oilfield brine that is generated as a by-product in oil and gas production. The commercial units are being designed to be scalable and modular, allowing for deployment into small and large oilfields alike.

MGX controls mineral rights that encompass more than 376 000 ha of lithium-bearing oilfield brine properties throughout Alberta. These oilfields currently generate over one-million barrels a day of salt brine. According to the company, it is in negotiations, and has initial agreements in place with a “significant number” of major oil and gas operators throughout Alberta.

MGX Minerals has signed a binding letter of intent to buy a 50% stake in clean-technology developer PurLucid Treatment Solutions. The transaction represents a key to MGX’s dilemma of separating oil, to a high degree of purity, from lithium-bearing brine, removing one of the major hurdles of oilfield lithium brine production. PurLucid has exclusive licensing to deploy the proprietary and patented technology.