Can you briefly introduce Cypress Development Corp. (Cypress) and the Clayton Valley asset?

Cypress is a Canadian-based advanced-stage lithium company, focused on developing its 100%-owned Clayton Valley lithium project in Nevada. Our company is in the pilot stage of testing extraction and production through the production of lithium carbonate from our lithium-bearing claystone deposit and progressing towards completing a Feasibility Study (FS) and permitting to become a domestic producer of lithium for the growing electric vehicle and battery storage market.

What are the catalysts ahead at Clayton Valley?

We are nearing the completion of the FS, which we expect to be completed by Q2 2023, and the completion of all engineering parts. The last key piece of the puzzle is a chlor-alkali plant. Based on their reputation and expertise, we engaged ThyssenKrupp nucera to work on this part of the study. Once our FS is completed, we will start the permitting process with the BLM and State of Nevada, go through the NEPA process and carry out an EIS. We will do more information gathering to get a Record of the Decision with the federal government to grant us our mining license. We expect this to happen within the next couple of years.

Can you expand on your extraction approach and ESG focus?

DLE is a series of steps related to ion exchange. We begin by breaking the clay down in a high-speed mill and moving this slurry into leach tanks. We add hydrochloric acid, extract lithium from the clay, clean the tailings, and then raise the pH. The solution is filtered and passed through our DLE process. This is unique and leads to a 99,5% recovery of the lithium extracted from the clay at this point. Our process is energy dependent but we have the advantage of using salt brine as the feedstock to the chlor-alkali plant. After we exit the DLE process, we have a high sodium chloride solution with which we purify and feed the plant. We are in a great location for potential solar and geothermal power generation and are looking at those solutions to meet our ESG goals.

How will Clayton Valley feed the lithium market?

The growth curve over the next seven years shows the US is going to need 650,000 t/y of lithium carbonate, and this is more than what the world currently produces. The Defense Production Act and the Inflation Reduction Act are strong indicators of support at the federal level for projects like ours. Our target production is 20-30,000 t/y of LCE. Our project alone could support a gigawatt factory.

What role can Nevada play in leading the lithium charge?

Nevada holds the largest lithium resource in the US. If you add up projects with identified resources, you get to about 10 million tons of contained lithium, and 50 million tons of LCE, on a world scale, this puts Nevada third behind Bolivia and Argentina according to USGS numbers. The issue now is converting this into reserves and production. Nevada shapes nicely in that regard. The state is well-positioned, and several projects will come into production in the next couple of years.

What is your outlook for lithium project funding?

Last year was not an indicator, as we have seen a decline in all stocks in the lithium space. Moving into 2023 and seeing new stability, investments will increase, particularly from ESG-centric and green-energy-oriented funds, along with more offtake agreements. All that will come into play to build a good environment for project financing going forward.

How do you plan on attracting strategic partners and investors in 2023?

We are well funded with over C$30 million in the treasury and are working towards refining our process through to battery-grade lithium carbonate. This is the main attraction of clay deposits: getting the raw material and producing a battery-grade product on-site will be a driving force for Nevada. It all comes down to developing new technology to turn the millions of resource tonnes in the ground into economic lithium production.