US Elemental Announces Highly Encouraging Magnesium Testwork Results from the McDermitt Lithium Project
Original announcement by globenewswire on
- Company
- US Elemental Inc.
- Ticker
- ULIT
- Exchange
- Unavailable
- Region
- Oregon
- Primary commodity
- Magnesium
- Secondary commodities
- Lithium
- Document categories
- Metallurgy
- Extracted
- 2026-09-12 02:16:01 UTC
Analysis by Minestarters Atlas
Minestarters Atlas analysis
Summary
US Elemental (via HiTech Minerals) has successfully demonstrated a technical pathway to produce high-purity magnesium oxide (MgO) from magnesium sulphate brine at the McDermitt Lithium Project. Testwork showed MgO grades exceeding 93% and very high calciner conversion rates of 99.95%. While commercially unproven, the results establish a proof of concept for a potential high-value magnesium byproduct.
Reasoning: Successful technical proof of concept to convert a magnesium waste stream into a high-purity byproduct (MgO), potentially adding value to the McDermitt Lithium Project.
Positive factors
- Proof of concept for converting waste stream to high-purity MgO
- High conversion rates in calciner (99.95%)
- High product grade (>93%)
- Strategic alignment with US critical minerals supply chain
Negative factors
- No commercial viability or economic benefit established
- Requires further engineering and scalability studies
Facts used in scoring: 3
Classification and evidence
Byproduct Commodityneutral
The tested commodity is a byproduct rather than the primary economic driver.
Why it applies: The testwork focuses on converting a magnesium stream previously treated as waste into a potential high-value byproduct.
Evidence · text
“Establishing an Initial Proof of Concept for a Potential Higher-Value By-Product at McDermitt”
Multi-Domain Testedpositive
Variability across ore domains (oxide, transition, fresh) has been addressed.
Why it applies: 2 distinct composites were tested
Extracted facts
Stored fact records: 3. Some facts used in scoring do not have a stored record.
Metallurgical Results (3)
calcinationMcDermitt Lithium Project · magnesiumRecovery: 93.4 %View all detailsHide details
Identity
- Project
- McDermitt Lithium Project
- Commodity
- magnesium
- Region
- oregon
- Reported Region
- Oregon
- Ticker
- ULIT
Test Work
- Program Status
- preliminary
- Test Type
- calcination
- Processing Route
- adding carbonates to the brine to precipitate magnesium carbonate followed by a calcination stage
- Sample
- MgO produced via carbonate precipitation and calcination
Recovery
- Recovery
- 93.4 %
- Conc. Grade
- 93.4
- Conc. Grade Unit
- %
Lab
- Laboratory
- Kemetco Research Inc.
Review
- Needs Review
- No
- Historical
- No
Dates
- Event date
- 2026-08-24T00:00:00.000Z
Reasoning: Achieved a high-purity MgO grade of 93.4% via a carbonate precipitation route.
Positive factors
- High product grade achieved
Evidence · text
“Both approaches produced MgO grades greater than 93%, with the highest grade reaching 93.4% MgO”
Tags used in scoring
Byproduct Commodityneutral
The tested commodity is a byproduct rather than the primary economic driver.
Why it applies: the release describes a byproduct credit
thermal conversionMcDermitt Lithium Project · magnesiumView all detailsHide details
Identity
- Project
- McDermitt Lithium Project
- Commodity
- magnesium
- Region
- oregon
- Reported Region
- Oregon
- Ticker
- ULIT
Test Work
- Program Status
- preliminary
- Test Type
- thermal conversion
- Processing Route
- crystallizing hydrated MgSO4 from the brine, followed by thermal conversion to anhydrous MgSO4 ahead of a reductive calcination stage
- Sample
- MgO produced via crystallization and thermal conversion
Recovery
- Conc. Grade
- 93.4
- Conc. Grade Unit
- %
Lab
- Laboratory
- Kemetco Research Inc.
Review
- Needs Review
- No
- Historical
- No
Dates
- Event date
- 2026-08-24T00:00:00.000Z
Reasoning: Achieved high-purity MgO grades through the crystallization and thermal conversion route.
Positive factors
- High product grade achieved
Evidence · text
“Both approaches produced MgO grades greater than 93%, with the highest grade reaching 93.4% MgO”
Tags used in scoring
Byproduct Commodityneutral
The tested commodity is a byproduct rather than the primary economic driver.
Why it applies: the release describes a byproduct credit
calcinationMcDermitt Lithium Project · magnesiumRecovery: 99.95 %View all detailsHide details
Identity
- Project
- McDermitt Lithium Project
- Commodity
- magnesium
- Region
- oregon
- Reported Region
- Oregon
- Ticker
- ULIT
Test Work
- Program Status
- preliminary
- Test Type
- calcination
- Processing Route
- calcination
- Sample
- calciner conversion efficiency
Recovery
- Recovery
- 99.95 %
Lab
- Laboratory
- Kemetco Research Inc.
Review
- Needs Review
- No
- Historical
- No
Dates
- Event date
- 2026-08-24T00:00:00.000Z
Reasoning: The calcination stage demonstrated exceptional conversion efficiency of 99.95%.
Positive factors
- Extremely high conversion efficiency
Evidence · text
“conversion in the calciner for both approaches was very high, with values reaching 99.95%”
Tags used in scoring
Byproduct Commodityneutral
The tested commodity is a byproduct rather than the primary economic driver.
Why it applies: the release describes a byproduct credit
How Atlas produces this analysis
Minestarters Atlas uses automated extraction to summarize mining announcements, identify reported measurements, and classify supporting evidence. Sentiment reflects the extracted narrative and classification rules; it is an interpretation, not a reported measurement. Evidence quotes and context are provided where available. Missing data, low-confidence results, and review flags indicate limitations. Check the original publisher announcement before relying on an interpretation.