Categories: Energy
Topics: Lithium Stocks

Hertz Lithium (CSE: HZ)(OTC: HZLIF) CEO Kal Malhi on Developing Lithium Extraction Technology with Penn State

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the CEO of Hertz Lithium, Mr. Kal Malhi. Kal, great to have you back on. How are you today, sir?

Kal Malhi: I'm good, Gerardo. Nice to connect with you again. Thanks for connecting this morning.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, let's get right into it. It's great to have you back on. We talked a bit off-air. I shared my opinions and thoughts on the lithium space. I think we're on the precipice of the next leg up, both in the lithium spot price and for the busy companies that are actually doing good work out there. And so I know Hertz has been busy. I wanted to have you on to get an update to see how things were coming along on the many fronts that you are advancing the company with.

Kal Malhi: Sure. No, thanks, Gerardo. And as you know, we listed back in April with one project in Arizona called the Lucky Mica Project. Since that listing, we've been building the company, and my goal was to build Hertz Lithium into a generational diversified lithium investment opportunity. And I think that's what we've gotten to right now, and we're ready to launch with exploration programs as well as some investor awareness programs.

Gerardo Del Real: What is the pace of the work that you're going to be doing here over the next quarter or so, to end the year? I mentioned that there's two kinds of companies right now. There's one type that's just waiting for the market to turn, and then there's companies that are going to add value regardless of what the overall markets are doing. What's the approach with the Hertz team?

Kal Malhi: With the Hertz team, Gerardo, as we said, I started with the Lucky Mica Project in Arizona. Since then, we've added a project in a very up-and-coming area in Brazil called Lithium Valley. And that project is turning into an amazing project as there's a neighboring company from Kazakhstan that's a very big company, and they've had a really good initial results from their property, which they claimed after we acquired our property. So they surround us, and they're getting good results, and we've just started some spectral imaging work, and we'll be on the ground in the next month or so. So we expect a lot of results out of Brazil. The other thing is, we've added a district-scale project in James Bay that shares geology with some ground that Rio Tinto optioned from Azimut. So we've got a 270-square-kilometer position in James Bay as well. So we've got three very strong exploration programs. And then, the next, I'll touch on the technology side that we've also got within Hertz that does make us a true diversified lithium opportunity.

Gerardo Del Real: I want to talk about that aspect of the company because the technology is interesting. Can we talk about the Penn State lithium extraction technology that you are working on?

Kal Malhi: Yes. So, Gerardo, everybody's looking for lithium deposits, and there's been a number of deposits found, but nobody's really doing work on the extraction technologies. So two years ago I came across a patent with Penn State, where they've improved on the extraction, and I won't get into the technical because I'm not technical, but it's a very energy-efficient way of extracting lithium from hard rock. And we're working with Penn State. I think the time has come now where deposits are being discovered, but now the focus has to turn into refining the technology on extracting it. That's what we're doing with Penn State now, and we're also talking with some major companies to possibly partner on that front as well.

Gerardo Del Real: I'm assuming that you have NDAs with those major companies, and it's going to be difficult for me to get a name or two out of you. Right?

Kal Malhi: Yes. As I said, under securities laws, I have to kind of clarify, we don't have any agreements in place. All we do have is some NDAs, but we're confident that the technology needs to be developed, and Penn State has what needs to be done, and we're working towards that very quickly.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Excellent. Last but not least, your take on the lithium space.

Kal Malhi: I believe lithium... we're at a bottom here and world events are shaping up, and the price of oil is creeping back up, and I think that's going to have an impact on stopping the drop in the price of lithium, I hope. And regardless of that, I think there's always going to be a need for lithium going forward. It's become a major commodity in our industrial world, and I'm confident that as we develop Hertz Lithium, we'll have a market for our product as well as our investment opportunity.

Gerardo Del Real: I am looking forward to seeing the progress. Looking forward to seeing what you get done here to close out the year. Thanks again, Kal, for coming on, and looking forward to having you back on as always.

Kal Malhi: Okay. Thank you, Gerardo.

Gerardo Del Real: All right. Chat soon.