MGX Minerals Inc. just announced a major new hire to its lithium technical team. Dr. Vuay Mehta, former Process Development Technology Leader at FMC Lithium Corp., has been engaged to oversee final phase product upgrading and commercial scale-up operations for MGX-PurLucid’s rapid lithium brine extraction technology. Dr. Mehta will also oversee Hatch Engineering’s scale-up of the technology and buildout.

Dr. Mehta has over 45 years of research and development and manufacturing experience of ore and brine based technologies focused on recovering lithium, potash, magnesium and boron to produce commercial-scale, high purity chemical products. He holds extensive knowledge of lithium brine and ore chemistries and has developed numerous projects related to selective process technology and upgrading of lithium into high purity lithium carbonate (Li2CO3), lithium hydroxide (LiOH) and more than 20 other lithium products.

Dr. Mehta has been awarded 15 U.S. patents related to these technologies and published more than 50 reports in scientific journals. He spent more than 25 years in senior executive roles at FMC Lithium Corp. the world’s second largest producer of lithium compounds, and was directly responsible for guiding projects through feasibility and implementing commercial-scale operations. He has received highly esteemed industry awards for his process development work of Li2CO3 and LiCl (lithium chloride) at FMC’s Salar Del Hombre Muerto project in Argentina. Dr. Mehta holds a MS from the Sir P.P Institute of Science and a Ph.D in Chemical Technology from the Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute. 

MGX President and CEO Jared Lazerson commented: 

“We are pleased to have a chemist of Dr. Mehta’s caliber and background join our team as we enter the final stages of scale-up and deployment of our rapid lithium extraction systems. We look forward to leveraging his vast experience in lithium compounds to oversee the lithium upgrading process design and finishing steps.”