Kaolin miner Metalsearch Limited (ASX: MSE) has been granted an exclusive worldwide licence for the manufacturing of zeolites at a time when the global synthetic zeolite market was estimated at US$5.64 billion.
The company has secured agreements from UniQuest, the technology transfer company of The University of Queensland (UQ), to implement commercialisation of the patent-pending processing technology.
Professor James Vaughan and Dr Hong Peng of the UQ have developed a novel approach to manufacture synthetic zeolites, from kaolin feedstock, which has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of manufacturing zeolites – compared to current production processes.
Synthetic zeolite applications primarily include water treatment detergent builders and cracking processes in the petroleum industry.
Metalsearch has also announced that highly experienced former Westpac Group senior corporate banker Peter Zardo has been appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO), to drive commercialisation of the Technology and development of the Abercorn Project
Mr Zardo, said the UQ’s processing technology is a synergistic fit to Metalearch’s Abercorn Project, as the primary
feedstock is kaolin
“It’s an exciting time to join Metalsearch with the addition of an innovative new technology that has the potential to disrupt the synthetic zeolite manufacturing market.
“Our relationship with The University of Queensland continues to strengthen and we now have a significant opportunity to leverage our Abercorn deposit and combine it with world leading Kaolin technology.
“We are committed to extracting the significant benefits of this opportunity and commercialising it for MSE’s Abercorn Project and broader market applications. We would like to thank UQ and UniQuest for introducing this technology to MSE and enabling the licence agreement.
“MSE now has the potential for reporting a strong maiden JORC resource on its Abercorn project, exciting technology and Executive capability to go to the next level, we all look forward to the journey ahead and updating the market as we progress.”
UniQuest CEO Dr Dean Moss said UniQuest will also join the MSE share register after completion of the licence transaction
UniQuest is very pleased to have partnered with MSE for this promising UQ technology,” Dr Moss said.
“The technology used to produce the synthetic zeolite has shown potential to reduce energy consumption and time, compared to traditional methods in lab experiments.
“With the MSE licence in place and an associated research agreement to follow shortly, we are excited to support MSE to explore broader use across multiple industry applications and further commercialise the technology to create change.”