VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Standard Lithium Ltd. (“Standard Lithium” or the “Company”) (TSXV: SLI) (NYSE: SLI) (FRA: S5L), is issuing the following statement in response to the false and misleading report (the “report”) from Hindenburg Research.
Standard Lithium believes the report is clearly intended to benefit Hindenburg Research, which itself has disclosed that it stands to profit in the event that the stock price of Standard Lithium declines. Standard Lithium cautions investors not to make decisions based on this report and instead strongly encourages them to consult credible and informed sources, including Standard Lithium’s filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prior to making investment decisions.
Standard Lithium Management Since joining the Company as Chief Executive Officer in March 2017, Robert Mintak has built a large and dynamic team with a broad and diverse skill set. Under Mr. Mintak’s leadership, management is executing a clear strategy, which has been to build a large asset base in a region which supports project development and to develop and de-risk a bespoke DLE technology that can be deployed using Standard Lithium’s and its partner’s lithium brine assets. To date, management and the entire Standard Lithium team have achieved substantial progress by completing several scale-ups of the technology, successfully operating the demonstration plant at the facility in Arkansas since May 2020 and advancing the project towards commercialization (see news release dated Jan 20th 2022).
Asset Base Management has sourced and developed a significant asset base over the last five years with several strategic partners. These current projects now include, among others, developments in southern Arkansas in partnership with LANXESS Corporation and Tetra Technologies, as well as the Mojave Project in southern California in partnership with National Chloride.
Intellectual Property and R & D Costs All of the Company's patent applications are active and continue to be prosecuted in the ordinary course. The Company has a routine and established process for seeking to register patent rights in the United States, which involves various levels of review, response and refinement. In addition, the Company has concurrent PCT applications pending with respect to these inventions, through which it is seeking to obtain patent rights outside of the United States.
It is claimed in the report that only approximately CDN $ 1.7 mm has been spent on research and development. This figure is incorrect and does not include either the CDN $ 29,409,930 spent on the various pilot and demonstration plants that has been capitalized, or the CDN $ 6,932,598 spent on operating expenses at our pilot and demonstration plant, both of which constitute our ongoing R&D program, and are disclosed as of September 30, 2021 in the Company’s most recent financial statement and the end of year statement as at June 30, 2021.
The Company is committed to developing its projects in collaboration with its strategic partners, and is confident in its lithium extraction technology and Demonstration Plant and will maintain its focus on executing its strategic plans and progressing towards definitive feasibility and commercialisation at the Lanxess facility. The Company will not be providing further comment on the report at this time. |