SAN ANTONIO, Texas, August 6, 2025 – Maverick Metals (“Maverick” or the “Company”), a leading North American specialty chemicals provider and technology innovator for critical metals recovery, today announced the launch of its Direct Metal Extraction (DME) technology. This breakthrough extracts valuable resources like lithium, rare earth elements, aluminum, and platinum group metals from oilfield wastewater in a cost-effective way.
"What was once a liability and waste problem is now a new frontier for America to build a domestic supply chain of critical minerals," said Eric Herrera, co-founder and CEO of Maverick Metals. "We are excited to partner with energy companies to unlock the value from their oilfield wastewater." Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Maverick's DME offers a new path to bolster domestic critical mineral supplies and reduce reliance on foreign sources.
Transforming Wastewater into a Strategic Resource
Each year, U.S. energy companies generate more than one trillion gallons of oilfield wastewater, also called produced water. Historically, this wastewater has been treated solely as a disposal challenge, despite containing valuable metals such as lithium, gold, platinum, rhenium, and iridium. The U.S. Geological survey estimates that there is enough lithium in U.S. produced water to meet the 2030 global EV demand nine times over.
The extremely low concentrations of these metals have made recovery commercially unviable - until now. Maverick Metals' breakthrough in Direct Metal Extraction (DME) technology unlocks a vast, untapped domestic supply of critical minerals from a resource once viewed as waste.
DME turns produced water into a valuable resource by:
- In-situ enrichment - Maverick's proprietary LithX chemistry is injected into the wellbore, where it breaks down silicate minerals in shale, liberating metals and increasing their concentration in the produced water by up to 4.5 times
- Surface recovery - Once the enriched brine reaches the surface, Maverick's selective proprietary resins capture and concentrate the metals, achieving .90% recovery of these critical metals and removing 92% of hydrocarbons
"Our unique approach to metal recovery from waste with DME unlocks a valuable domestic resource," said Herrera.
DME Technology Highlights
- Water Enrichment: LithX increases critical metal concentrations in produced water by up to 4.5x compared to untreated produced water through in-situ shale degradation.
- High Metal Recovery: Proprietary resins achieve over 90% recovery of critical metals with over 92% hydrocarbon removal.
- Field Tested: Successfully field-tested DME at a saltwater disposal facility to enrich produced water with metal from shale cuttings.
- Field Compatible: Integrates seamlessly with existing oilfield infrastructure, supporting modular and portable deployment.
Industry Perspective
"Turning produced water from a cost burden into a value-creating stream would be a game-changer," said Jason Swaren, Senior Vice President of Operations at Chord Energy. "Maverick Metals' Direct Metal Extraction technology has the potential to make this a reality. As an added benefit, the ability to economically extract metals from the produced-water stream could lessen our country's dependence on foreign strategic metals."
Department of Energy Support
Maverick recently completed a DOE-funded project which validated the use of LithX and maverick's proprietary resins for metal liberation and recovery from shale-derived brine. "We appreciate the ongoiong support from the department of Energy," said Herrera. "President Trump has made secure, domestic supply chains of critical minerals a national priority and we look forward to being part of the solution."
Industry Partnerships
Maverick Metals is actively partnering with leading energy operators in North Dakota, the Permian Basin, South Texas, Gulf of America, and Mexico to deploy its DME technology. These strategic partnerships will accelerate the transformation of produced water into a vital component of the critical minerals supply chain, supporting the global energy transition and reducing dependence on foreign mineral sources. "With our technology fully validated, we're ready to bring it ot market with energy industy leaders throughout the United States," said Jesse Evans, co-founder and COO of Maverick Metals. "Our Direct Metal Extraction gives operators a new way to turn wastewater into profit while also saving money on the high costs of produced water disposal. It's a classic win-win scenario: strengthening the domestic supply chain while making energy operations cleaner and more cost effective".
For more information, contact:
press@maverickmetals.com
About Maverick Metals
Maverick Metals is a specialty chemicals provider and critical metals recovery technology innovator. Maverick’s flagship technologies – LithX and Direct Metal Extraction (DME) – unlock critical metals from untapped resources in the mining and energy industries. As global demand surges for critical metals processing, these technologies offer scalable, next-generation solutions to strengthen supply chains. By developing effective extraction and recovery solutions that integrate seamlessly into existing operations, Maverick helps critical industries meet rising global resource demands while ensuring environmental sustainability. For more information, follow us on LinkedIn or visit www.maverickmetals.com.