Vancouver-headquartered Wealth said it had persuaded former Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) lithium extraction technologies manager Cesar Jil to join the Wealth team as its chief technical officer for Chile, with immediate effect.
"There are very few people in the world who know how to run a lithium brine operation, and Wealth managed to hire one of the best from this small group. I take great pride in knowing that Cesar left a successful career at a large multinational corporation to join Wealth for our growth potential and corporate culture," CEO Henk Van Alpen said.
Jil was most recently involved with Albemarle's lithium and advanced materials global business for the past five years. He is an expert in the latest technologies and methodologies for lithium beneficiation from natural brines, and has worked in the Atacama, Antofalla and Silver Peak salars/salt lake beds.
Most importantly, Jil worked to implement new processes to increase lithium recovery yields by about 30%. He also led process changes at Albemarle's Atacama lithium refinery to reduce water consumption by 10%.
Having amassed interests in Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile, Wealth is increasingly transitioning from acquisition mode to development of its portfolio.
The equity has lost more than 65% in the past 12 months and is trading significantly below its 52-week high of C$2.34 a share. At Tuesday's closing price of C65c a share, the company had a market valuation of about C$77.79 million.
