Sixth Wave continues to achieve outstanding results at detecting COVID-19 as well as the extraction of cannabinoids, gold & lithium
Innovative methods of detecting and extracting key target materials, such as valuable minerals or even harmful viruses, is a new forefront of nanotechnology.
Today’s company is Sixth Wave Innovations Inc. (CSE: SIXW | OTCQB: SIXWF) (“Sixth Wave”). Sixth Wave is a nanotechnology company that was established in 2013 and has worked on developing commercial products for military and mining applications. For example, SAFE-T® is a legacy product developed for the US Military for explosives detection, developed with internal resources and R&D funds under multiple contracts with the US Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center (ARDEC) and sold to elements of the US Department of Defense and allied forces.
Since that time Sixth Wave has matured the technology and the applications. Today Sixth Wave’s technology has applications across multiple sectors such as mining, medical, defense, and life sciences. Sixth Wave’s 3 key products are:
- Accelerated Molecular Imprinted Polymers (AMIPs) – For rapid detection of viruses
- Affinity – For cannabinoid extraction
- IXOS – For gold extraction
Sixth Wave uses patented Molecular Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) for imprinting, capturing, and releasing substances at the molecular level.
MIPs use polymer synthesis techniques to create smart materials with high affinity for a target
Source: Sixth Wave Innovation website – About MIPs
The MIP technology can detect and/or extract any number of substances as widespread as the COVID-19 virus, cannabinoids, gold, or lithium.
Detection of viruses
Sixth Wave’s Accelerated Molecular Imprinted Polymers (AMIPs) is a Rapid Virus Test for the selective identification of Covid-19 that can give easy-to-read results within minutes. AMIPs will allow for high volume, point-of-use screening in public sector, private industry, hospitals, long-term healthcare facilities, and various forms of public transportation.
On June 10, 2021, Sixth Wave announced a breakthrough that they had successfully detected the UK and South African Variants of SARS-CoV-2, using two independent techniques: a color-based sensor and independently verified on a Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) based AMIP sensor.
The announcement stated: “The flexibility and robustness of the AMIPs platform was demonstrated again. These preliminary results give evidence to the claims that AMIP technology is resistant to loss of efficacy due to virus mutation and new variants. By imprinting and detecting the whole virus AMIPs can be highly resistant to virus mutation.”
Purification and extraction of cannabinoids in cannabis
For cannabis producers, Affinity™ streamlines the traditional processing of THC & CBD. Affinity™ uses MIPs designed to capture and extract cannabinoids to ensure the purest end product and the highest yield.
Sixth Wave recently announced they had commissioned delivery of its first Affinity™ System. It is estimated that the system will be ready for wet testing at AESI in late September and ready for shipment to the Sixth Wave’s proving laboratory in Maryland shortly thereafter.
Sixth Wave plans to deliver the first commercial Affinity™ System to Oregon-based Green Envy Extracts in Q4, 2021.
Extraction of gold from tailings
Sixth Wave has developed a revolutionary gold-processing system designed for the mining industry. IXOS® is a faster, cleaner and a more cost-effective method of processing and extracting gold with a higher and purer end product than traditional activated carbon processing.
Announced on May 18, 2021, Sixth Wave executed a non-binding LOI to test Sixth Wave’s patented IXOS® purification and extraction polymer on gold bearing tailings samples from the Barry-Hollinger Gold Mine (BHGM) in Eastern Ontario. The news release stated: “It is estimated there are approximately 200,000 tons of tailings on the property which have been indicated to contain up to 16,000 ounces of gold…..Sixth Wave will perform a combination of leaching and recovery tests, expected to start in June 2021, baring COVID-19 restrictions. The tailings test protocol could form the foundation for a business model that seeks to identify and recover gold from tailings at other mine sites in the Ontario mining district and throughout the world.”
The global implications are enormous given the massive global tailings available from not just gold mines, but other valuable metals.
Extraction of lithium from brines such as in the Salton Sea area of California
Earlier in 2021, Sixth Wave acquired 100% of Geolithic Corp. (a JV between TriLateral and Sixth Wave). Geolithic was established in 2017 to work on the extraction of lithium from geothermal brines located primarily in the Salton Sea area of California, potentially a huge lithium resource. This has become an important area of interest as it may help the USA and others to be able to extract vast quantities of lithium, which will be needed for this decade’s electric vehicle and energy storage boom.
Final remarks
Sixth Wave has several tremendous technologies all based around its Molecular Imprinted Polymers (MIPs), which can both detect and extract specific target substances.
Key areas of commercialization that are at the beginning are COVID-19 detection, cannabinoids extraction, gold from tailings extraction, and direct lithium extraction. All of these have enormous potential, as well as the potential to expand into related areas.
Sixth Wave Innovation trades on a market cap of just C$27 million and, in my view, is one of the most exciting listed junior companies on the market today. Be sure to take a deeper look at Sixth Wave.
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