Tag Archives: Calgary

Accenture expands operational technology expertise with True North Solutions buy

Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, , , , , , ,

Accenture has acquired True North Solutions, a provider of industrial engineering solutions headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, in a deal that provides it further exposure to the oil and gas and mining industries.

True North Solutions expands Accenture’s expertise in operational technology (OT) in these sectors. OT is the hardware and software systems with which companies run and control physical equipment and facilities, such as pipelines, refineries, plants and mines.

Accenture will help clients better connect their OT to their enterprise IT systems, for example, to optimise the output and safety of existing equipment and facilities through real-time data analytics, it says. Accenture says it will also work with the True North Solutions team to engineer and commission new field operations and facilities where OT and IT are seamlessly integrated and processes are digitized from the start.

“True North Solutions brings boots-on-the-ground understanding of how to design, build and commission our clients’ critical assets and infrastructure,” Adam Foster, Accenture Canada’s Energy Portfolio leader, said. “We are combining True North Solutions’ unique expertise with our advanced digital capabilities, such as digital thread, predictive maintenance and intelligent asset management, to improve the performance and safety of our clients’ field operations.”

David Morgenstern, President of Accenture in Canada, said: “In welcoming True North Solutions to our Industry X and Resources team at Accenture, we will help our clients benefit from transformative technologies such as generative and predictive AI through digitally enabled field operations. Smart operations means greater productivity and predictability, helping clients operate with increased efficiency and safety, and we’re pleased to be advancing these capabilities in the industry and in Canada.”

Blair Hanel, CEO of True North Solutions, added: “By joining Accenture, we’re giving our clients in North America access to Accenture’s digital leadership in areas such as cloud, data and AI, and global scale, which will help them advance their businesses. Our teams will benefit from the opportunity to grow and deepen their careers in one of the world’s most innovative, inclusive and global organisations.”

True North Solutions’ services encompass engineering and commissioning, industrial automation solutions, enterprise asset management, OT cybersecurity and digital infrastructure for industrial telecommunications. It brings a team of 95 experts in automation, instrumentation and electrical engineering to Accenture, who will join the company’s digital engineering and manufacturing service, Industry X.

E3 Metals receives provincial funding for Direct Lithium Extraction pilot

Energy minerals, Environmental, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining finance, Mining services, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , ,

Canada-based E3 Metals says it has received a government grant totalling C$1.8 million ($1.4 million) from Alberta Innovates that will assist it in funding a pilot plant to test out its proprietary Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology.

DLE technology, the company says, seamlessly connects conventional oil field and lithium processing, with the potential to unlock Alberta’s previously untapped lithium resources.

This direct brine process produces a concentrate feedstock that could be turned into lithium hydroxide using conventional production equipment, according to the company, with the benefit of DLE being that it can achieve at least 20 times to almost 100 times concentration of lithium (up to 5,300 mg/L) with a reduction of over 99% of all impurities and an extraction time of hours. This is achieved with average lithium recoveries of over 90%, the company says.

“E3 Metals’ goal is to commercialise its global-scale lithium resource and deliver zero carbon emissions, battery grade lithium products to the growing electric vehicle supply chain,” it said.

The funding provided by Alberta Innovates is to support the demonstration E3 Metals’ DLE technology by progressively scaling it up from the lab prototype to a field pilot. The first step will be a prototype operating within E3 Metals’ Calgary lab, and then a field pilot operating continuously on a site within E3 Metals’ resource area in Alberta.

“By demonstrating the process at a pilot scale over numerous months, the company plans to significantly de-risk its Alberta lithium project prior to scaling up to the anticipated commercial scale of 20,000 t/y lithium hydroxide monohydrate,” it said.

Alberta Innovates is a provincially funded corporation with a mandate to deliver 21st century solutions for the most compelling challenges facing Albertans, E3 Metals says. It does this by building on the province’s research and technology development strengths in the core sectors of health, environment, energy, and food and fibre, and platforms such as clean technology, digital technology for business transformation, data-enabled innovation, and innovative production and distribution.

E3 Metals has 7 Mt of lithium carbonate equivalent inferred mineral resources in Alberta within the Leduc Reservoir. Some 1.9 Mt of this is confined within its Clearwater lithium project.