Company
Company
Overview
CVW CleanTech has developed and patented innovative technologies to recover valuable commodities (bitumen, solvent, critical minerals and water) from oil sands froth treatment tailings. The benefits to the operator include: increased recovery of valuable commodities that will provide additional economic value; and environmental benefits which will reduce the environmental impacts of the mineable oil sands industry. The Company is working with industry and government to commercialize its CWW™ suite of technologies following the successful conclusion of multi-year demonstration pilots and a multi-million dollar Front-end Engineering Design (FEED) study.
With the growth in Canada’s oil sands sector, there is an increased focus on sustainable development. There are currently six large mineable oil sands projects in operation – Syncrude, Suncor’s Millenium and Fort Hills facilities, Canadian Natural Resources Limited’s Horizon and Albian Sands facilities and, and Imperial Oil’s Kearl Lake facility. As mine-based oil sands production grows, tailings volumes containing minerals, bitumen and solvents are expected to increase proportionally.
For CVW CleanTech, processing waste tailings will result in several benefits to stakeholders. These include incremental revenues for recovered commodities, reductions in GHG and methane emissions, maximized use of existing natural resources and achieve business and economic diversification for Alberta.
The Corporation’s common shares are listed on the Toronto Venture Stock Exchange (TSX.V: CVW).
Company History
CVW CleanTech is a publicly traded company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol CVW. Since 2003, CVW CleanTech (previously operating as Titanium Corporation Inc.) has focused its research, engineering and financial resources towards developing technology to recover bitumen and solvents (“hydrocarbons”) and minerals, primarily high value zircon and titanium products, from mined oil sands tailings projects operating in northern Alberta
Initially working with deposited, dry oil sands tailings, CVW CleanTech commissioned a mineral research and processing facility at the Saskatchewan Research Council in Regina, Saskatchewan in 2004 for flow sheet development test work. Encouraging results were achieved and the Company moved ahead with development of technologies to process fresh froth treatment tailings.
In 2005, CVW CleanTech commissioned and operated a bulk sampling plant that was connected to the fresh froth treatment tailings pipeline on-site in Fort McMurray. The bulk sampling plant produced washed sands containing heavy minerals, some of which were further processed at the Company’s Regina facility.
CVW CleanTech has assessed the mineral content in both deposited tailings and fresh froth treatment tailings. This included analysis of fresh tailings on a daily basis which identified a relatively constant proportion of zircon and titanium minerals, but with higher levels of associated hydrocarbons (i.e. bitumen) compared with the material in the deposited tailings. These findings necessitated changes to the process flow sheet design which were then tested by the operation of an on-site modular pilot mineral concentration facility (2006 Pilot Program) during September-October 2006.
The pilot modules were constructed in Australia and shipped to Fort McMurray for commissioning during the summer of 2006. It was built on time and on budget and was designed to concentrate the minerals and to remove bitumen from the heavy minerals. The 2006 Pilot Program achieved high recoveries of a heavy mineral concentrate (98-99%); however, traces of bitumen remained on the heavy minerals. The removal and recovery of bitumen was demonstrated as essential to effectively recover the heavy minerals. In 2007, CVW CleanTech initiated a bitumen R&D project to remove bitumen from the heavy minerals and recover bitumen from the tailings stream.
From 2008 and 2009, the Company successfully executed over 20 research projects with 12 independent research organizations. The program, 50% funded by a $3.5 million grant from the Alberta Government, developed new technologies to recover bitumen and solvent from froth treatment tailings and produce a cleaned heavy mineral concentrate.
During 2010 to 2013, following the successful R&D program, CVW CleanTech executed a large-scale demonstration pilot for five oil sands operators that tested the component technologies in an integrated manner. This $30 million pilot was funded in part by $6.9 million in grants from the Canadian Government’s Sustainable Technology Canada agency (SDTC) and the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP). The pilot program was highly successful recovering over 80% of the bitumen and solvent as well as producing bulk samples of cleaned heavy mineral concentrate for full scale testing with mineral sands process engineering partners in Australia. Equally important, these recoveries demonstrated significant environmental benefits by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG’s) and volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), with great potential for recycling water and thickening tailings.
During 2014 to 2016 CVW CleanTech executed a full-scale demonstration of the minerals separation process to validate valuable minerals recovery potential from froth treatment tailings. Subsequently, CVW CleanTech engaged with oil sands operators with technology reviews, early stage engineering evaluations and preliminary commercial discussions. CVW CleanTech’s suite of 21 patents was finalized for its CVWTM technologies. Environmental benefits owing to CVWTM processing of oil sands tailings were validated by oil sands operators, government agencies and engineering experts.
CVW CleanTech advanced the commercialization of its technology with Canadian Natural Resources Limited (“Canadian Natural”) starting in 2017 and completing front-end engineering designs with third party engineering firms, for the first commercial implementation of CVWTM technology at Canadian Natural’s Horizon oil sands site. This $10.2 million engineering design phase was supported by a $5 million grant from Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA). For subsequent EPCM phases of the project, the Company has been awarded an additional $5 million grant from NRCan’s Clean Growth Program, a $40 million grant from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Fund (LCEF), a $5 million grant from Clean Resource Innovation Network, and Sustainable Development Technology Canada (“SDTC”) approved a $10 million contribution for the detailed engineering phase of the CVW™ Horizon Project.
Corporate Vision
CVW CleanTech is a clean technology company with a vision to utilize innovative technology to recover valuable commodities in a sustainable manner that helps accelerate the world’s move to net zero.
The Company’s mission is the full scale commercial implementation of its CVWTM technologies into facilities within the oil sands mining space. This will allow CVW CleanTech to help industry reduce oil sands mining emissions and tailings volumes, while recovering incremental bitumen and solvents, as well as critical minerals, ilmenite and zircon sand, contained in the waste tailings streams from oil sands mining operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta.
The potential benefits from this CVWTM proposition are twofold. First, by using an integrated approach to recovering bitumen, solvents and minerals, there is great potential for industry-wide meaningful environmental benefits. Second, the recovered hydrocarbons and minerals will have incremental value and provide additional economic benefits such as diversification and the growth of a new export industry.
Corporate Leadership
JOHN BRUSSA
Director
Mr. Brussa is currently Partner and Chairman of Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP, a Calgary based law firm, where he has specialized in taxation. In addition, he is Chair of the Board of Directors of Crew Energy, a natural gas exploration and production company operating in the Montney fairway of NE British Columbia. He also currently serves as a director of several public and private energy producers operating in Canada, and a public financial services corporation. Mr. Brussa has had extensive experience in corporations across varying businesses, including those operating in mineral and oil sands mining respectively. He recently served as the Jarislowsky Fellow at the Haskayne School of Business and is a mentor at the Canadian Centre for Advanced Leadership.
BRUCE GRIFFIN
Director
Mr. Griffin is the owner of Farview Solutions Limited, a company providing consulting and advisory services to the mineral sands, titanium pigment and industrial minerals industries. Mr. Griffin has previously held senior management positions in several mining and minerals companies, including as Senior Vice President Strategic Development of Lomon Billions Group, the world’s third largest producer of titanium dioxide pigments, Chief Executive Officer and a director of TZ Minerals International Pty. Ltd., the leading independent consultant on the global mineral sands industry, World Titanium Resources Ltd., a development stage titanium project in Africa and as Vice President Titanium for BHP Billiton, then one of the world’s leaders in the industry. In April 2021 Mr. Griffin was appointed Executive Chairman of Sheffield Resources Limited.
MOSS KADEY
Director
Mr. Kadey is the Founder and CEO of Mossco Capital Inc., a Toronto based strategic investor specializing in consumer goods, real estate and technology companies. He is the Chairman and Founder of Luxury Brand Partners, a Miami based creator and owner of branded consumer products in the beauty and hair care industries. Some of the brands he has been involved with from start up to eventual sale have been Bumble and Bumble, sold to Estee Lauder, Becca Cosmetics sold to Estee Lauder, Oribe Hair Care sold to Kao Industries and the North and South American owner of the Brita Water Filter rights sold to The Clorox Company. He is on the boards of numerous privately held corporations and is currently the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hanvest Holdings, the parent company of Brita GmbH in Germany, the world leader in household pour through water filtration systems. Mr. Kadey obtained his Chartered Accountant designation in South Africa.
JENNIFER KAUFIELD
Director
Jennifer is an independent businesswoman with over 30 years of experience in private and public corporations both domestic and international. Ms. Kaufield was previously Chief Financial Officer of CVW CleanTech (formerly Titanium Corporation Inc.), until June 2021. She is a director of TransGlobe Energy Corporation and currently serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee, and is a member of both the Compensation and Corporate Governance committees. Ms. Kaufield holds a Bachelor of Administration degree, Accounting from St. Francis Xavier University, and is a designated CPA (Chartered Public Accountant (CPA, CA).
DARREN MORCOMBE
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Morcombe has more than 30 years of international experience in a variety of roles in in the natural resource and finance sectors. This includes over 10 years in senior roles with Normandy Mining and Newmont Mining Corporation in the areas of financing, treasury, mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Morcombe is the founder of Springtide Capital Pty. Ltd., a private investment company specializing in micro-cap listed companies, venture capital and resource-oriented companies. He was Founder, Chairman and a major shareholder of the largest gold refinery, distribution and finance company in the world. Morcombe is shareholder of several private and public companies.
AKSHAY DUBEY
CEO
Mr. Dubey joined CVW CleanTech in September 2022 as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and as an Executive Director. Mr. Dubey has over 13 years of experience originating and structuring investments in the natural resource space including within the oil and gas, mining and metals, agriculture, and timberland industries. Prior to joining CVW CleanTech, Mr. Dubey reported directly to the Board of Directors of BaseCore Metals LP which he led since its inception in 2017 till its sale in July 2022 for $525m. At BaseCore his focus included originating and executing additional stream and royalty investments in the base metals sector, along with managing the company’s portfolio of assets. Previous to BaseCore, Mr. Dubey was a Principal within the Natural Resources team at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, where he gained extensive experience in both the energy and mining sectors; including originating and structuring various investments, such as the $3.3b acquisition and subsequent set up of the Heritage Royalty platform. Mr. Dubey started his career working for CIBC in their investment banking division within the mining group based in Toronto, Canada and holds a Bachelors of Business Administration (Hons.) from the Schulich School of Business at York University.
JOSHUA GRANT
CFO and Corporate Secretary
Mr. Grant has over 14 years of experience leading corporate finance teams within the mining, manufacturing, and distribution industries. Mr. Grant was previously at Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. where he was the finance leader responsible for banking and treasury management, external financial reporting, insurance, enterprise resource planning systems, and oversight of the controllership functions. Mr. Grant has overseen the implementation of several capital intensive projects critical to increasing shareholder value including mine site restart from care and maintenance, the start-up of a new manufacturing plant, and the company-wide deployment of business-critical technologies. Mr. Grant has worked at the Director and Controller levels for a multitude of organizations including Pathways to Education Canada, Multimatic, and DoALL Canada, Inc. Mr. Grant started his career with Deloitte as an accounting professional, is a qualified Chartered Professional Accountant in Canada, and obtained his Honours Bachelor of Commerce from McMaster University.
KEVIN MORAN
Executive Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer
Dr Moran has led the development of CVWTM over the past 15 years including extensive research into hydrocarbon recovery technologies, integrated piloting and progressive engineering to advance the company’s technology to TRL 8. He has over 25 years experience in the oil sands industry, during which time he focused on technical issues, and offering practical solutions, related to bitumen production through the application of colloidal, thermodynamic and transport principles; specific emphases included flotation, tight emulsions, vapour liquid equilibria and the physical characterization of bitumen. Dr. Moran joined the Company in 2008 from Syncrude Canada Ltd., where he managed research and technology development programs in oil sands bitumen extraction and froth treatment process technologies. As Project Leader & Research Associate, he was also responsible for feasibility studies and business case advancement in support of these R&D initiatives. Dr. Moran graduated from the University of Alberta with a doctorate in Chemical Engineering. Dr. Moran also holds a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto, undergraduate degrees in Engineering Science and Science from the University of Western Ontario, and an MBA from Queen’s University. Dr. Moran also fulfills a part-time role as Adjunct Professor at the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta. He is a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.), registered in Alberta.
Corporate Governance
Statement of Corporate Governance Practices
National Instrument 58-101 (“NI 58-101”) of the Canadian Securities Administrators requires the Corporation to disclose annually in its information circular certain information relating to the Corporation’s corporate governance practices.
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of CVW CleanTech (the “Board”) is comprised of six directors, four of whom are considered by the Board to be “independent” within the meaning of NI 58-101, thereby facilitating the Board’s exercise of independent supervision over management. The following directors are considered by the Board to be independent: John Brussa, Bruce Griffin, Moss Kadey, and Darren Morcombe.
The Board has the following standing committees:
Ethical Business Conduct
To encourage and promote a culture of ethical business conduct, the Board has adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (PDF, 246 KB) that is applicable to the employees, officers and directors of CVW CleanTech.
Other Governance-Related Policies
The Board has also adopted a Disclosure and Confidentiality Policy, an Insider Trading and Blackout Policy and a Whistleblower Policy.