| 57 REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Geo40 Leaders in lithium recovery Geo40’s programme involves new technology to sustainably recover lithium from underground fluids, including those used to generate geothermal electricity. T Karen Phelps Taupo-based Geo40 Limited is in the process of developing world-leading lithium recovery technology with potential to contribute to a lower carbon future globally. Company CEO John Worth says that without sustainable lithium a truly sustainable energy future is not possible. “You cannot have a sustainable future without sustainable minerals. You cannot have green transport without green lithium. It’s that simple. So we need to find a way to sustainably recover lithium,” he says. Lithium is in demand globally for electric vehicle batteries with EVs expected to account for more than half of new car sales in the northern hemisphere by 2030. John says that traditional ways of mining lithium typically leave a heavy carbon or environmental footprint. Geo40’s programme involves new technology to sustainably recover lithium from underground fluids, including those used to generate geothermal electricity, with the fluids then returned back into the geothermal reservoir. It comes on the back of Geo40’s technological breakthrough to recover silica. John says until Geo40’s groundbreaking work no one on the planet had been able to successfully recover saleable colloidal silica from geothermal fluid at scale. He says recovering essential minerals could also help New Zealand meet its 2050 carbon neutral target and create jobs. John says it is due to the “extraordinary collection of talent” that Geo40 has amassed that has made such innovating possible. From PhD qualified chemists to process engineers and metallurgists, Geo40 has attracted some of the best people globally, he says. “Taupo is a great place to attract talent and we exist in an incredibly supportive environment here. Great people plus smart firms who have helped us build our projects has made what we do possible.” For example a development agreement with Contact Energy and the Ngati Tahu Tribal Lands Trust provided for the silica demonstration plant and large-scale silica northern plant. The agreement gives Geo40 access to the geothermal fluid and Contact Energy gets the benefit of silica not blocking the pipes and wells. Silica is a major problem for geothermal energy companies as it blocks up geothermal re-injection pipes and wells and limits how much heat can be extracted from geothermal fluid for conversion to electricity. The government’s new Regional Strategic Partnership Fund is investing in Geo40 Limited, to help it to scale-up its lithium recovery technology. The investment will see the government take a further equity stake in Geo40 Limited, allowing the company to progress its lithium recovery method before moving to commercial production. The silica technology was also supported by with a $15m loan from the Provincial Growth Fund in 2019. Rotorua based DMI Electrical Engineering di erentiates itself by o ering clients the full package – design, manufacture, installation and commissioning, along with the project management through those phases. This brings clients many bene its, says company owner TimWiringi. “One point of contact makes their project easy. We can be responsive, lexible to their needs and incredibly e icient – both in terms of project timelines and cost,” he says. As an example he says that if a client makes changes to their equipment during a project, after the electrical design phase, the DMI Electrical Engineering team can make the resulting necessary changes to the electrical design quickly. O ering the full package also limits the likelihood of issues with any aspect of the project as the DMI Electrical Engineering sta who completed the design are usually also taking care of the manufacture and installation. Tim says this all saves DMI Electrical Engineering clients considerable time, money and hassle. A turnkey project based business; DMI Electrical Engineering’s core focus is developing leading edge electrical equipment designed for process automation. The process typically starts with a customer presenting Tim and his team with an engineering design for a machine and a business process they want to automate. In conjunction with programmers and mechanical engineers, DMI Electrical Engineering designs and fabricates switchboards and equipment, that makes those machines run electronically, and then do the installation right through to commissioning. Founded by Tim in early 2018 and based in Rotorua, DMI Electrical Engineering has wasted no time spreading its wings and now operates throughout New Zealand and the Pacif ic Islands. It also recently established a business in Australia. Tim says that DMI Electrical Engineering team is a cornerstone of its success. “We have a really unique culture at DMI Electrical Engineering. We work with passion, conviction and are totally committed to doing the best job we can. This is because the team takes personal pride in their work and won’t deliver anything but the best they can. It’s hard to explain and has to really be experienced to be believed,” says Tim. It’s no surprise then that once a client tries DMI Electrical Engineering they invariably become repeat customers once they experience the di erence. A good example is the company’s on-going work for Geo40, which has seen DMI Electrical Engineering entrusted with many large and signi icant projects such as delivering an electrically complete plant, ready for commissioning, for a state-of-the-art commercial scale silica extraction plant at Contact Energy’s Ohaaki Northern plant. “If people give us a go they always come back. Our team’s that good.” Offering the full package
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