Sixth Wave Innovation moves its IXOS gold extraction technology forward with USD$50M+ multi-stage contract
Until recently Sixth Wave has been a company with very promising technology but has been looking to turn that into dollars (revenue). That has now changed and could lead to a boost in the company’s fortunes.
Sixth Wave Innovations Inc. (CSE: SIXW | OTCQB: SIXWF) (“Sixth Wave”) is a nanotechnology company. The company’s technology focuses on ‘detecting, capturing, and releasing’ of target substances at the molecular level using specialized ‘molecularly imprinted polymers’ (“MIPs”). Six Wave is in the process of commercializing its Affinity™ cannabinoid purification system, AMIPS™ virus/bacteria detection, as well as their IXOS® extraction polymers for the gold mining industry. All of these are based on Sixth Wave’s MIPs technology which can detect, capture and release almost any target molecule.
Source: Sixth Wave Innovation website
On September 12, 2022, Sixth Wave announced that it and Magnus Mineral Resources (PVT) Ltd had signed a USD$50M+ contract for the implementation of its IXOS Mining Technology at the Penhalonga Gold Mine and beyond. The announcement stated that Sixth Wave has signed “a three phase test and implementation contract… that will field SIXW’s patented IXOS® molecular imprinted polymer for extraction and purification of gold and silver… at the Penhalonga Gold Mine, Zimbabwe. Additionally, Magnus Resources plans to build and deploy three smaller processing plants to assist regional artisanal mining groups in Zimbabwe.” The company goes on to say that one of the benefits of using its extractive technology is to change “artisanal mining operations from dangerous and environmentally destructive practices involving mercury amalgamation.”
The first phase of the agreement involves laboratory extraction and recovery testing. The second involves pilot-plant process design, engineering, implementation for gold recovery from oxides; as well as delivery/commissioning of three portable VAT leach adsorption/desorption/recovery plants that are capable of processing 100tpd of ore. The third phase will involve the testing and optimization of extraction for the transitional and refractory ore present at the mine.
While it is still early days and a lot needs to be achieved, Sixth Wave now has a pathway towards achieving significant revenue and a project to demonstrate that their technology is effective at scale in real world conditions. Plenty of risks still exist in terms of fulfilling the contract as well as Zimbabwe’s country risk.
The key advantages of Sixth Wave’s IXOS technology is that it has a high gold recovery (average 95%), it recovers gold with 90% less cyanide usage than conventional cyanidation, and has reduced energy requirements which lower processing costs.
It is often the case when new technology comes along there will be some resistance to change. However once it has been demonstrated to be effective at scale then the disruption begins, meaning others begin to seriously consider and adopt the technology. We have seen this with electric vehicles and we may be about to see this with gold mining via Sixth Wave and Magnus Resources’ plan to deploy the IXOS MIPs technology in Zimbabwe.
If the project succeeds this should open the door to numerous other opportunities for Sixth Wave Innovations. Investors can be excited given this opportunity in the mining sector, not to mention all the other areas of opportunity across multiple sectors where Sixth Wave’s multi-purpose MIPs can be effective.
Sixth Wave Innovations trades on a market cap of just C$5.4M. Will this be the turning point for the company? Time will tell and some patience is required. But it certainly looks very promising.
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