American Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:AREC) announced it has brought on noted academic Byron Price to the team of ReElement Technologies LLC.
Price will help ReElement evaluate and develop new relationships in Africa, where ReElement believes its patents and technology can be used to produce high-value, purified critical elements and benefit local economies.
Price, a professor of public administration and the former Dean of the School of Business at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York in Brooklyn and the former Lillie and Nathan Ackerman Chair of Social Justice at Baruch College, spent the last six months in South Africa during a sabbatical and has “tremendous” contacts and relationships throughout Africa, according to Mark LaVerghetta, vice president of corporate finance and communication of American Resources.
READ: American Resources says ReElement division produces ultra-high purity, battery-grade lithium from recycled batteries
LaVerghetta told shareholders that Price had “seen firsthand the opportunity that is present to bring high-value technologies to the African continent to produce highly-refined critical minerals for the electrified economy” while also improving the quality of life for the local population.
“Collectively we believe that our technology could enable various African communities to leap forward and benefit from the ability to refine materials within Africa rather than by only extracting the resource and exporting the value to other countries such as China and Russia,” said LaVerghetta in a statement.
“Our modular, low-cost and environmentally-safe refining methods enable African countries to retain that value while also reducing the cost of critical minerals for the growth of the electrification industry."
Exploring opportunities in Africa
Price will work with the ReElement team to analyze opportunities throughout Africa to produce high-purity critical minerals for the local economy as well as the US market, the company said in a statement.
In particular, as part of the due diligence process, Price will help verify regions within the continent that have the appropriate quality standards of mining and extraction operations, alongside attractive and economically viable resources and deposits in order to maximize the value of ReElement Technologies' electrolysis and chromatographic separation and purification technology for critical mineral refining.
"It's a very exciting time to be joining the ReElement Technologies team,” Price told shareholders.
“Their revolutionary critical minerals refining technology is exactly what certain resource-rich regions in Africa need to support the growth of mining and processing of these highly sought-after resources. The flexible, low cost and environmentally-sensitive nature will enable the technology to be efficiently implemented and utilized while also presenting a meaningful socio-economic benefit for certain African communities."
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