- New
approach could boost the energy capacity of lithium batteries
- The
lithium battery market is projected to grow to $92 billion by 2024
- QMC
Quantum Minerals is anticipating completion of its NI 43-101-compliant
mineral resource report on its Irgon lithium mine project after three
years of exploration
The world’s dependence on continually-advancing computer
technology is driving efforts to improve the quality of the lithium-ion
batteries that power the vast majority of computerized devices, especially
mobile technologies ranging from pocketable cell phones to self-driving
electric automobiles. Thanks to the technological boom, lithium has been an
in-demand lightweight metal, with most of it being sourced from outside the
United States. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
and in China have just announced a new way to make cathodes for lithium
batteries that may ultimately improve the amount of power that the batteries
supply and, in the process, continue to elevate the prospects of lithium
explorers such as QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. (OTC: QMCQF) (TSX.V: QMC) (FSE: 3LQ).
MIT’s researchers state that their discovery could lead to “batteries that pack
a punch but are smaller and lighter than today’s versions, potentially enabling
electric cars to travel further or portable electronics to run for longer
without recharging,” according to ScienceDaily (http://ibn.fm/jww9O).
Their research has focused on developing a hybrid lithium
battery that incorporates the best qualities of lithium cobalt oxide
intercalation-type cathodes, which offer a high volumetric energy density
(output), and lithium sulfur conversion-type cathodes, which deliver good
gravimetric energy density. According to the report by ScienceDaily,
current lithium-ion batteries can have energy densities of about 250 watt-hours
per kilogram and 700 watt-hours per liter. Lithium-sulfur batteries reach even
higher energy densities, with about 400 watt-hours per kilogram, but otherwise
fall short, with 400 watt-hours per liter.
The initial version of the new hybrid can already reach more
than 360 watt-hours per kilogram and 581 watt-hours per liter, beating both
lithium-ion and lithium-sulfur batteries in their weakest metrics while approaching
the levels of their strongest energy metrics. The researchers believe that they
can get to 400 watt-hours per kilogram and 700 watt-hours per liter, matching
the strongest metrics of each of the two cathode types as the cell is
redesigned.
Regardless of that outcome, QMC notes that Research
and Markets analysts are predicting a 16.2 percent CAGR, boosting the
lithium-ion battery market to $92.2 billion in capitalization by 2024, with
other commercial uses for spodumene maintaining additional potential markets.
QMC Quantum Minerals has been working for nearly three years
to explore the lithium potential of its southern Manitoba property known as the
Irgon Mine. The Irgon project is in a region long known for hosting spodumene
and rare-element-bearing pegmatites. This Cat Lake-Winnipeg River rare-element
pegmatite field of southeastern Manitoba also hosts the rare-element pegmatite
of Cabot Corporation’s nearby Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada (“TANCO”),
which, to date, has been one of North America’s mst successful spodumene mines.
Spodumene is a lithium-bearing silicate mineral that occurs
in geochemically-enriched granitic pegmatites, and QMC’s hard rock exploration
has focused on the possibility of new commercial-level production at a site
with a historical estimate calculated over 50 years ago to be 1.2 million tons
grading 1.51 percent lithium oxide over a strike length of 365 meters (1,197.5
feet) and to a depth of 213 meters (698.8 feet). The dike is currently open in
all directions. The company is in the process of bringing the historical
estimate up to current NI 43-101 standards. As part of this process, the
company is undertaking a diamond drilling program to confirm the historical
assays and drill intersection widths of the Irgon pegmatite. All core samples
will be analyzed for 56 elements, including lithium, beryllium, rubidium,
cesium, tantalum and niobium, using a sodium peroxide fusion followed by an
inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy assay (ICP-AES/ICP-MS).
QMC’s consultant, SGS Canada, will undertake these assays at its Lakefield,
Ontario, laboratory.
Preparations are approaching the pinnacle as the company
readies itself for potential commercial development of the Irgon project and
awaits the completion of the NI 43-101 report.
QMC also holds 100 percent title to two volcanic massive
sulphide (“VMS”) copper-, lead- and zinc-bearing properties. These are the
Rocky Lake and Rocky Namew properties, which together are known as the Namew
Lake District project. This project encompasses 57,000 acres and is located in
northwest Manitoba in one of the world’s most productive mining regions, the
Flin Flon/Snow Lake mining district (http://ibn.fm/69gg5). Required work permit applications
have been submitted to government authorities for the Rocky Lake portion of the
project, with a field program expected to begin after receipt of permits. The
company believes that the Namew Lake District project has the potential to host
several distinct VMS ore bodies and notes that the Namew Lake project remains a
hugely prospective exploration target with strong future potential for QMC (http://ibn.fm/Ab1my).
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.QMCMinerals.com
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates
relating to QMCQF are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/QMCQF
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