Our Patented Process and Technology
The processing and extraction of minerals from LiquidOre™ Brine does not employ conventional hard rock mining techniques used to find and extract minerals from ore bodies. LiquidOre™ Brine has minerals already dissolved in solution, so processing and extraction is much simpler and does not require strip mining and the toxic preparation of typical hard rock mining operations. The minerals in LiquidOre™ Brine are in solution as a better described in our Patents.
Our products and technology can be licensed and used by industry as illustrated below.
At the heart of our business are naturally occurring, mineral-rich reservoirs of supersaturated brines (LiquidOre™ Brine). We use LiquidOre™ Brine as a key reagent along with captured carbon dioxide in our processing technology to precipitate Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium Carbonate and a range of rare earth minerals that are considered critical and strategic to the US economy.
Our business focus on Carbon Footprint Reduction, Sustainable Roads, and Rare and Strategic Minerals provides these key products and services.
Carbon Footprint Reduction Technologies
US Strategic Minerals Exploration provides technology which assists high carbon-emitting industries in their efforts toward reducing their carbon footprint. We are continuing to develop Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) technologies that can be delivered to industrial and power generation sites where high carbon emissions occur. At these sites, captured Carbon Dioxide is permanently sequestered by a mineral carbonation process using LiquidOre™ Brine rich in Calcium and Magnesium Salts. The end product is a proprietary industrial aggregate product we call THE GREENMILE™ Roadbase.
Our unique process supports carbon-emitting industries by reducing the human-caused carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere. This extends the viability of several core industries and allows new infrastructure projects — that are environmentally sensitive — to commence operations.
Installation and operation of our portable and scalable CCUS technology provides participating industries access to Section 45Q tax credits in many instances. In the future, it could provide corporations a key source of Carbon Capture Credits, should a system of trading captured Carbon become accepted by the global economy.
Sustainable Roads
Well-built and maintained roads are essential to the US economy. Each year, our Federal, State and Local transportation agencies spend hundreds of billions of tax dollars building, expanding, and maintaining roads and highway systems.
Sustainable Road Construction Products
Calcium Carbonate is a significant mineral used in the construction of roads throughout the world. Calcium Carbonate, commonly used as a key component of the aggregate mixture for road construction, is primarily sourced from mined and crushed limestone. Mining limestone can result in groundwater contamination, land subsidence, habitat destruction and dust pollution.
Our precipitated Calcium Carbonate (or limestone) is a “green” product that is produced using captured Carbon Dioxide and LiquidOre™ Brine. Because it uses our CCUS technology and is produced in an environmentally conscious manner, we have trademarked this particular process THE GREENMILE™ Roadbase. It represents a sustainable new aggregate source for road construction and other projects that utilize crushed and sorted material from quarries and mining operations worldwide.
Sustainable Road Maintenance
A significant portion of our LiquidOre™ Brine comes to surface to the same specification as commercially produced de-icer, anti-icer and liquid dust control products. These products add to our Sustainable Roads business line.
Road and Pavement De-icing Product
LiquidOre™ Brine sourced from certain subsurface reservoirs is the ideal product to apply before or after a winter-weather event that is predicted to impair travel. It is a naturally-occurring, concentrated Calcium Chloride liquid that inhibits bonding of snow and ice to surfaces like highways and parking lots. When properly applied, LiquidOre™ Brine rapidly melts snow and ice to produce and maintain an ice-free surface.
It is more versatile than the commonly used Magnesium Chloride products due to its lower freezing point (-32 deg F) and use as a blending agent for less expensive products
Dust Control Product
LiquidOre™ Brine sourced from certain subsurface reservoirs can be used — without significant processing — for controlling dust on roadways, in mining and quarrying sites, and during road construction. It can be used to stabilize and compact Roadbase materials during the construction phase of many critical road and infrastructure projects. LiquidOre™ Brine is superior to water and many other dust control products because the high concentration of Calcium Chloride in our product has a higher affinity for humidity in the atmosphere, thus reducing the need for frequent product reapplication.
Rare and Strategic Minerals Exploration and Production
Our modern life has resulted in an ever-increasing need for a variety of rare minerals. These minerals are necessary for computers, smartphones, medical equipment, military defense systems, and even in the production of “clean” energy. Unfortunately, the United States has very limited or environmentally sensitive deposits of several key rare minerals. As such, many minerals including Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are imported from overseas in various forms.
US Strategic Minerals Exploration is committed to reducing the reliance by the United States on overseas imports of these minerals. We have developed patented technologies that allow rare and critical minerals to be sourced and extracted from subsurface-sourced brines and industrial-waste sites in the United States and North America.
