• Diversified marine transport and offshore services company and an international merchant of petroleum products
• Focused primarily on unexplored, proven oil reserves in Mediterranean and West Africa
• Global oil and gas industry needs to invest more than $20 trillion over next 25 years to meet forecast growth in demand
• Petrogress aggressively expanding to capitalize on opportunities

No one ever gives thought to the journey petroleum must take to fill a vehicle with gasoline. Often produced in far-flung corners of the globe, petroleum products require a major delivery system and corresponding infrastructure to reach their final destinations. Playing an integral role in the worldwide distribution of oil products, Petrogress, Inc. (OTC: PGAS), a diversified marine transport and offshore services company, is on a path of expansion at what appears to be an incredibly opportune time.

To meet expected growth in demand and offset the natural decline in developed fields, the global oil and gas industry needs to invest more than $20 trillion over the next 25 years, according to Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser (http://ibn.fm/EY3Nn). Speaking at the CERAWeek Energy Conference in Houston, he also affirmed his confidence that oil market fundamentals and future demand growth would be healthy, despite significant oil price volatility and forecasts of rising shale oil production.

With expanding oil service operations in West Africa and the Mediterranean, Petrogress is in the thick of the action. The company owns and operates a fleet of tankers and is an international merchant of petroleum products. Petrogress primarily operates through its three subsidiaries:

• Petrogres Co. Ltd., an international supplier and trader of petroleum products operating in West Africa, the Mediterranean, and other regions;
• Petronav Carriers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary that operates an in-house fleet of crude oil carriers in West Africa; and
• Petrogress Oil & Gas Energy, Inc., formed to capitalize on the expanding liquefied natural gas (LNG) market.

Petrogress recently announced the further expansion of its African footprint by way of deals with Nigeria-based A&E Petroleum Co. Limited (http://ibn.fm/Hi0i3). The partnership with A&E Petroleum expands the company’s operations into Nigeria, Africa’s largest producer of oil and the sixth-largest oil producing country in the world. The deal is expected to generate enhanced revenue opportunities and strengthen the company’s international reach.

Petrogress is rapidly expanding operations in one of the last remaining regions on the planet with proven reserves in which oil and gas exploration hasn’t kept pace with the rest of the world. When considered alongside the previously noted $20 trillion suggested investment in the global oil industry, Petrogress’ expanded operations could position the company for an incredibly bright future.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.PetrogressInc.com

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• Artificial intelligence sector forecast to grow to almost $90 billion by 2025
• ATIXF’s CapitalCube provides powerful AI-based equity research platform
• Integration of ATIXF’s MarketWall with Intesa Sanpaolo will provide exposure to eight million stock trading clients in six countries

Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) has been a big talking point for a few years now, but this has not yet translated into any substantial investment in the technology. This may be about to change in 2018, with Tractica forecasting that annual global AI revenue will grow to almost $90 billion by 2025 (http://ibn.fm/jop82). Analysts predict that AI is poised to break through in 2018, although, to date, few companies beyond the tech sector have adopted it to any appreciable extent. AnalytixInsight Inc. (TSX.V: ALY) (OTCQB: ATIXF) is a notable AI company that has made significant strides in this sector over the last few months.

The company has developed a proprietary machine learning technology that analyzes big data using algorithms and turns it into actionable information. AnalytixInsight’s technology is scalable and can be applied in virtually any data-driven industry, including communications, health care, finance, sports, insurance and government. The company entered the financial market with the launch of its flagship product, CapitalCube.com. This is a portal which provides comprehensive research, portfolio evaluation and screening tools for companies involved in 50,000 global equities and North American ETFs.

CapitalCube’s powerful online portal provides in-depth analysis, performance evaluations, accounting and earnings reports. It also provides AI-supported information on likely dividend changes, share buybacks and acquisitions. The platform’s robo-advisor offers the potential to empower investors to maintain a desired risk profile while matching risk to ideal ETF exposure. CapitalCube allows free access to basic financial information and provides subscription-based access to in-depth analysis and predictive analytics at $25 per month, as well as customized peer analysis at $300 per month. It also publishes 3,000 articles daily, with content partners including The Wall Street Journal, Thomson Reuters, Yahoo Finance, Euronext NV and Africa Investor.

A fintech subsidiary of AnalytixInsight, MarketWall, develops integrated software solutions for smart devices, including PCs, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs and smart wearable mobile devices. Italy’s largest retail bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, has joint ownership in MarketWall. The bank has a market cap of almost 51 billion euros and has more than 4,000 branches.

AnalytixInsight plans to integrate MarketWall with Intesa Sanpaolo during 2018, which will be available in six countries and provide the company with exposure to the bank’s eight million stock-trading clients. This initiative will embed the CapitalCube platform, providing user access to real-time trading information. The mobile stock trading application will also interface with Intesa Sanpaolo’s established trading platform, MarketHub. In partnership, the MarketWall app will also be preloaded on mobile devices in certain European countries.

AnalytixInsight is currently evaluating and developing a series of blockchain technology initiatives to complement its AI platform for big data analytics. The company envisages the use of distributed ledger technology to result in reduced transaction costs and settlement times.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.AnalytixInsight.com

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• Patented UST process produces highly stable, clean and cost-effective nanoemulsions
• Technology can be applied across many industries, including pharmaceutical, food, nutraceutical, industrial lubricant, paint and cosmetic sectors
• UST technology aligns with consumer demand for chemical- and preservative-free products

The demand for nanoemulsions is growing at a fast pace, with potential applications in many industry sectors, including food, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics and industrial lubricants. Up to now, one of the major problems with nanoemulsions has been their instability. This instability compromises the bioavailability and absorption of active ingredients for product preparation and the shelf life of the product. Life sciences company Pressure BioSciences Inc. (OTCQB: PBIO) is positioned to change this landscape via a patented novel technique called Ultra Shear Technology (“UST”). This technology uses intense shear forces generated by high-pressure valve discharge, which can help produce nanoemulsions that exhibit significantly improved absorption, greater stability and increased bioavailability compared to traditional micro and macro-emulsions.

Emulsions are mixtures of two liquids which are largely immiscible without the aid of emulsifying chemicals, such as surfactants. Surfactants assist in the dispersion of one liquid within the other, where it exists as tiny droplets. The smaller the droplet size for any given volume of dispersed liquid, the greater the absorption and bioavailability of active compounds. Nanoemulsions produce dispersed droplets with exceptionally small diameters, measured in nanometers.

To date, cost-effective, highly stable nanoemulsions made with minimal or no surfactants have been difficult to produce. Pressure BioSciences’ UST enables manufacturers to produce nanoemulsions at industrial scale levels that virtually exclude the use of surfactants, leading to safer and more effective oral delivery of food and medical products. This is a big deal in today’s world, where consumers across the globe are focusing more on wellbeing and demanding food that is appealing, tastes good, is free of chemicals and is safe to eat. Nanoemulsions produced using UST facilitate the production of food products with enhanced shelf lives and without the need for chemicals or preservatives. This groundbreaking technology will also increase product quality and shelf life in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic sectors.

In October 2017, Pressure BioSciences concluded a strategic collaboration agreement with Phasex Corporation that will allow for the production of stable, water-soluble nanoemulsions that are expected to significantly improve drug and active ingredient delivery in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cannabis oil industries. Aqueous nanoemulsions have the potential to increase the absorption and bioavailability of water-insoluble compounds like vitamin A, vitamin C and cannabinoids such as CBD. Phasex’s expertise lies in supercritical fluid (“SCF”) extraction processes that can be used for the manufacture of an extensive range of fine chemicals, polymers and natural extracts for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical formulations. SCF technology enables solvent-free extraction of active ingredients, which substantially enhances the quality of nanoemulsions.

Although the UST platform offers very exciting opportunities for future growth, Pressure BioSciences is not dependent on its novel UST platform for its future success. To that point, the company has been showing solid growth over the past several years in its’ primary product line, which is based on its innovative, patented, enabling platform called Pressure Cycling Technology (“PCT”). This technology uses cycles of hydrostatic pressure from ambient to ultra-high pressure levels to control bio-molecular interactions. It can be applied in several emerging life science areas, including:

• Sample preparation for genomic, proteomic and small molecule studies
• Control of biochemical reactions
• Protein purification
• Pathogen inactivation
• Immunodiagnostics

Patents for this technology have been issued to PBIO from many countries around the world, including China, Japan, multiple European countries, Canada, and the U.S. To date, the company has installed almost 300 PCT systems in more than 150 pharmaceutical, academic, biotechnological and government laboratories worldwide. Primary applications for the technology are in biomarker discovery, forensics, pathology and agriculture. The company has reported annual revenue of greater than $2 million, even though it has had but one sales person and one PCT instrument to sell. Recently, however, the company added four additional sales reps and has announced plans to release up to four additional instruments in 2018. These changes have set the company up for what could be significant future growth and an excellent return on investment for shareholders.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.PressureBioSciences.com

• Company returning to its roots in financial consulting, corporate brand building and educational services for cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin
• CIIX has daily video from NYSE targeted at its global Chinese-speaking investment community titled ‘Bitcoin MultiMillionaire’ and hosts a bitcoin ATM in the lobby of its San Gabriel, California, headquarters
• Company is urging its shareholders to convert stock, on a four-for-one basis, for a share in the new, private company that includes hemp assets CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd., Hemp Logic, Inc. and com, Inc.

ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. (OTCQB: CIIX) will return to its roots as a financial consultant and a specialist in cryptocurrency, especially bitcoin, as it spins off its hemp assets into a private company. In a news release (http://ibn.fm/4f1zF), Paul Dickman, CFO of CIIX, said, “This is a great time to spin off CIIX’s CBD focused assets as we continue to explore new ways to expand its core financial services business, including its recent move into the cryptocurrency and blockchain technology industry.”

CIIX has in the past succeeded as a diverse company with multiple-focuses, but, with this spinoff, it can now concentrate on its core skills in brand building for startups and financial marketing for its clients.

The San Gabriel, California-based company specializes in financial education and marketing for the global Chinese-speaking investment community. It has an interest in the growth of cryptocurrency with a daily video newscast from the NYSE daily titled ‘Bitcoin MultiMillionaire’ and hosts a bitcoin ATM in the lobby of its San Gabriel, California, headquarters.

Following the planned spinoff, CIIX intends to focus on those interests while giving its shareholders a special dividend. They may exchange four shares of CIIX common for one share in the new company, which consists of CIIX’s hemp-related assets. These include wholly owned foreign enterprise CBD Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and U.S.-based wholly owned subsidiaries Hemp Logic, Inc. and ChineseHempOil.com, Inc.

The four-for-one exchange of shares will be made effective on May 31, 2018, the date of the spinoff. The new company will initially be private, but CIIX has announced plans to bring the new company into the public market in the 12-18 months that follow (http://ibn.fm/Oqmxa).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ChineseInvestors.com

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• Agreement with Checkout will significantly strengthen the company’s product distribution network
• Human trials launched evaluating CBD-based therapy for opioid addiction
• Application made to uplist to OTCQB in early 2018, attracting more investment

The worldwide cannabidiol (CBD) oil market, which includes products derived from both marijuana and hemp, is projected to grow at a CAGR of more than 39 percent through 2021. The health benefits of CBD oil are the major driver for growth in this market, with global demand steadily on the rise in recent years. Hemp-based CBD oil products in particular are more popular, as they have a lower concentration of psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) than those derived from marijuana, therefore not requiring a medical prescription (http://ibn.fm/K3s1m). Earth Science Tech, Inc. (OTC: ETST) is one of the companies that is focused on the development of hemp-based CBD products and has taken a number of steps recently to enlarge its presence in this market sector.

Following a revamp of its CBD product line, Earth Science Tech announced on February 13, 2018, that it had concluded an agreement with Mr. Checkout for the distribution of its products via major retailers and stores across the United States. This agreement will strengthen the company’s distribution network, which currently has 10 active representatives targeting distribution to health food stores and clinics. Mr. Checkout is a national group of independent distributors of products to over 60 major retailers and 55,000 stores. It will market ETST’s product line to major retailers such as Walmart, Walgreens and Target.

Earth Science Tech is a biotechnology company focused on the research and development of hemp-based CBD products for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. It also has a focus on the development of diagnostic tools and medical devices. On February 28, 2018, the company announced that it had finalized plans to conduct human trials on its new CBD-based formulation that targets opioid addiction (http://ibn.fm/xF5zk). These trials will assess the efficacy of the combination of hemp-based CBD oil with an essential mineral element. Currently, the sole therapy for this condition is a monotherapy based on an essential mineral element. ETST’s formulation is expected to increase the potency and improve the outcome of this therapy.

The company operates through three wholly owned subsidiaries:

• Cannabis Therapeutics, Inc. which develops leading edge, cannabinoid-based products for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical sectors;
• KannaBidioiD which is focused more on developing products for the recreational use of cannabis, including edibles, vapes and eLiquids;
• Earth Science Pharma, Inc., which develops medical devices and low-cost, noninvasive diagnostic tools, as well as testing processes and vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases.

Cannabis Therapeutics is in the development stage of two CBD-based pharmaceutical drugs and three CBD-based nutraceutical products. These will target a variety of ailments, including depression, anxiety, breast cancer and fatty liver disease. In October 2017, Earth Science Tech announced a collaboration with Clinique SIDA Amité to conduct a mini-trial on its MSN-2 device for the detection of Chlamydia. ETST has also acquired Canna Inno Laboratories Inc., based in Montreal, Canada, which will give the company the opportunity to expand into Canada and gain access to local government grants for pharmaceutical industry innovation.

Earth Science Tech expects to uplist to the OTCQB Venture Exchange in early 2018, which it believes will attract well-funded institutional investors. These recent developments are likely to increase company growth and enlarge Earth Science Tech’s presence in the cannabis industry.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.EarthScienceTech.com

• World governments helping to drive turn toward eco-friendly increase in lithium-ion battery use
• Marifil reviving unexplored property in ‘lithium triangle’ while negotiating for additional acquisitions
• High-tech batteries expected to account for 60 to 70 percent of lithium and cobalt demand by 2020

The geopolitical gear shifts driving automakers to turn toward sharply enhanced production of electric vehicles (EVs) and the under-produced minerals that make up the EVs’ lithium-ion batteries have created a market party for lithium and cobalt explorers such as Marifil Mines Ltd. (TSX.V: MFM) during the past couple of years, as revenues and investor interest have soared. However, the first two months of 2018 have seen projections for lithium’s fortunes cool as the resolution of legal wrangling in Chile led to immediate concerns that the coming years may see a supply surplus instead of the scarcity previously anticipated. Amid the uncertainty pushing prices lower, the projected rise in demand for EVs has remained constant, however — not to mention the need for lithium-ion batteries in internet-connected devices such as cell phones and electronic tablets — as a number of countries try to mitigate environmental harm to the planet by codifying policy in favor of renewable energy sources that are not reliant on the oil and gas industry.

Marifil has staked out land for mineral exploration in the renowned ‘lithium triangle’ of South America. It is reviving a program that was active in Argentina a decade ago, building on an unexplored mine it possesses with an application for a second and negotiations for a purchase option in a third property to establish a significant property portfolio of ‘salar’ brine evaporation lakes. In addition to nearly 152,000 acres of lithium-staked properties, Marifil has 100 percent ownership of 887 acres of land for cobalt exploration and 91,565 acres of gold mining rights in an advanced exploration stage epithermal polymetallic deposit with “excellent infrastructure and mining friendly politics.”

Analysts have predicted that global lithium-ion battery demand will grow between six and seven times by 2026 (http://ibn.fm/q6DEG). Sean Brodrick, senior editor at Weiss Ratings, calls the pullback in lithium stocks overdone, predicting that global demand will grow by 75,000 metric tons in the next two years, outpacing new supplies of 25,000 to 30,000 metric tons over that period. Hallgarten mining strategist Christopher Ecclestone forecasts a much tighter market for cobalt that might tip into the “cannot-get-it-for-love-or-money” category. All told, high-tech batteries are expected to account for 60 to 70 percent of the demand for both lithium and cobalt by 2020, notwithstanding concerns about reported human rights violations in world-leading cobalt producer the Democratic Republic of the Congo (http://ibn.fm/Aop33).

In the meantime, gold prices also continue to rise and provide optimism for mining companies that may increase if the United States’ national deficit continues to increase in relation to the gross domestic product. Amid the optimism, Marifil announced last month that it had closed private placement funding for $2 million that will inject additional life into the company, subject to the final exchange approval. The company stated in a news release that proceeds from the funding will benefit acquisition plans, a drilling program at its gold claim and other output from its general working capital accounts (http://ibn.fm/NUITY).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.MarifilMines.com

• Two patents received from the U.S. and Canada for oil sands extraction technology
• Proprietary technology is scalable, commercially proven and highly profitable
• Technology used to increase production at Petroteq’s Utah facility to 1,000 barrels per day

In early January 2018, Petroteq Energy Inc. (TSX.V: PQE) (OTCQX: PQEFF) announced that it had received two patents from the U.S. Patent Office and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office for its oil sands extraction process. The company has developed a unique continuous-flow oil extraction process utilizing closed loop technology that is environmentally safe. This technology was developed over a five-year period by Petroteq’s research and engineering teams. It has been independently evaluated by a reputable petroleum and chemical engineering company, Chapman Engineering, that has concluded that Petroteq’s oil sands extraction technology is scalable, cost effective and commercially proven.

The company has already produced approximately 10,000 barrels of oil using the new technology and is expanding its heavy oil extraction plant in Asphalt Ridge, Utah, to further increase production. Petroteq plans to increase the oil plant’s production capacity to 1,000 barrels per day after modifications and the implementation of its innovative extraction technology (http://ibn.fm/eRwUn). Utah contains around 55 percent of America’s total oil sands deposits, with a total oil resource of more than 30 billion barrels. Petroteq’s mineral lease in the state covers over 3,000 acres and features a large oil sands resource estimated at 87 million barrels of oil equivalent. The company’s patented and cost effective extraction process is expected to make development of this resource highly profitable.

Petroteq’s extraction technology (http://ibn.fm/n1Lto) is versatile, enabling its application to both oil-wet deposits, such as its resource in Utah, and to its water-wet oil sands deposits in Alberta, Canada. This technology uses no water in the extraction process, requires no high temperature or pressure to affect extraction and produces no greenhouse gases. It extracts up to 99 percent of all hydrocarbons and recycles up to 99 percent of benign solvents used in the process. Being a closed loop, the system also reduces the company’s environmental footprint and requires no tailings pond. The only elements leaving the system are the product, crude oil, and a solitary by-product, clean sands, which can be sold or put back in the earth.

Petroteq’s extraction process is based on patent-pending liquid fluidized bed technology. This enables continuous mixing of ore particles and solvents, providing continuous production with optimal material, mass and energy balances as opposed to the reduced efficiency of a batch process. There are several stages in the company’s extraction process:

• Mined oil sands ore is crushed in preparation for processing;
• Crushed ore is fed into the fluidized bed extractor, where bitumen is extracted using a solvent at temperatures between 50°C and 60°C;
• Bitumen and solvent are pumped via an evaporator to a distillation column;
• Crude oil, in the form of bitumen and other hydrocarbons, is separated from the solvent in the distillation column and then pumped to a storage tank;
• The solvent is recycled and heated before being fed back into the extractor;
• Purified sands leave the extractor to be dried.

The entire system is energy efficient, with heat generated during the process being recycled. It also produces crude oil with a very low sulphur content, making downstream processing less costly. The oil extracted from the Asphalt Ridge facility has an average viscosity rating of 14 API, making it far easier to transport than other crude oils.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Petroteq.energy

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• Global Hemp Group will employ joint ventures, partnerships, and acquisitions to capture cash flow, generate revenues and create value for its shareholders
• Global Hemp Group will be involved in the cultivation, processing and distribution of industrial hemp to domestic and international markets
• At the end of 2017, GHG issued its final report on the first year of its joint venture to produce industrial hemp on the Arcadian Peninsula of New Brunswick, Canada

Global Hemp Group, Inc. (CSE: GHG) (FRANKFURT: GHG) (OTC: GBHPF) is focused on the vital role that industrial hemp will play in building a sustainable future. The company concentrates on the production and processing of hemp to produce raw and finished goods for domestic and international markets.

Through a series of partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions, Global Hemp Group seeks to build a strategic portfolio of forward-thinking companies that also believe in the disruptive potential of the industrial hemp plant (http://ibn.fm/E0oXg). The company is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is actively seeking additional projects in the hemp cultivation and cannabinoid extraction space in Canada and the United States.

Global Hemp Group, in partnership with Marijuana Company of America (OTC: MCOA), recently completed industrial hemp trials, in 2017, which marked the first hemp cultivation on the Arcadian Peninsula of New Brunswick, Canada in 20 years. The joint venture partners plan to begin commercial cultivation of industrial hemp in 2018, including plans to acquire equipment for the extraction of cannabinoids (CBD, CBG, CBN and CBC). Experienced hemp farmers have been recruited to grow on 125 acres in 2018, with plans to cultivate more than 1,000 acres by year three of the project. Global Hemp Group is to provide technical and management expertise to the joint venture.

What makes industrial hemp unique is its ample potential for aiding in the manufacture of thousands of sustainable products across a wide range of markets. To qualify as industrial hemp, regulation in the United States and Canada requires less than 0.3 percent Delta 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

Hemp has tremendous value as an agricultural crop and industrial solution that can not only produce food and clothing on an industrial scale, but also has the potential to become the base product to develop, amongst other things, super-foods, textiles, building materials, bio-fuels and plant-based medicine. Oil-based products such as bio-plastics, cosmetics, sealants and cleaning products also provide an opportunity for hemp to find new global markets.

Industrial hemp plays a fundamental role in the development of sustainable industrial solutions. Global Hemp Group, with its knowledge and expertise, is building a strategic portfolio of companies with the objective of delivering shareholder value through joint ventures, partnerships and acquisitions.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.GlobalHempGroup.com

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• Increasing acceptance of smartphones for mobile payments coincides with emerging markets’ transition to non-cash transactions
• Global mobile payments solutions market projected to reach $3.14 trillion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 32 percent from 2017 to 2022
• Innovative payment infrastructure and services are globally oriented but adaptable to unique requirements of each country
• Omni-channel shoppers spend between 50 percent and 300 percent more than single shoppers

Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE), a global technology company specializing in mobile payments and value-added transactional services, is growing rapidly as consumers and retailers around the globe embrace the security and ease of digital commerce. Net Element provides more than 100 electronic payment solutions for clients in 50 countries and plans to move into additional international markets. Several market research firms, including Statista (http://ibn.fm/VRoBz), show that global transactions are soaring as consumers integrate mobile payment options into their daily routines.

Net Element and its team of engineers provide retailers with a disruptive, single commerce, all-in-one platform that supports multiple payment methods (http://ibn.fm/Mmd9X). The company’s focus on developing innovative technology enables Net Element to grow its strategic position in a variety of emerging markets around the globe. Estimates of worldwide transaction volume vary depending on the research firm, but experts agree that mobile payment totals are expected to move into the billions of dollars (http://ibn.fm/vvwG2).

Retailers and customers alike can appreciate the omni-channel offerings of Net Element’s payment infrastructure, which allows the integration of in-store, online and mobile device apps that interact with the consumer’s evolving needs in mind (http://ibn.fm/KckHE). A fully automated, encrypted payment solution that handles administration to configuration provides a secure and seamless cardholder transaction base for mobile purchases, while an exceptional collection of business analytics tools provides valuable information for today’s retailer that’s striving to make smarter decisions. Mobile payments are being used in a diverse range of business and consumer transactions, increasing exponentially as the proliferation of smart devices gains steam and consumers are offered the value-added benefits of mobile payments, according to Forrester Research Inc. (http://ibn.fm/bfA2v).

Net Element aims to grow transactional value by innovating productivity services for small to medium enterprises in the U.S. with its cloud-based restaurant and retail point-of-sale solution, Aptito. Internationally, Net Element’s strategy is to leverage its omni-channel platform to deliver flexible offerings to emerging markets with diverse banking, regulatory and demographic conditions. The company’s newest multi-channel payments platform – Netevia – provides end-to-end payment processing through user friendly APIs. In a news release, Andrey Krotov, Net Element’s chief technology officer, said that Netevia’s platform “delivers a blueprint and easy to use tools for global commerce and monetization, saving developers and merchants time and money with one provider and one integration across all sales channels.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.NetElement.com

• MGX is moving forward with previously announced Highbury Energy Inc. partnership
• The companies are developing innovative thermochemical gasification process to extract metals from petcoke
• Approximately 106 million tonnes of petcoke estimated in the Province of Alberta alone

Another innovation is in the works for MGX Minerals Inc. (CSE: XMG) (FKT: 1MG) (OTCQB: MGXMF), a diversified Canadian resource company engaged in using pioneering processes to develop lithium, magnesium and silicon projects. MGX has numerous projects in both the U.S. and Canada, and the company is also taking part in the development of associated, potentially game-changing technologies (http://ibn.fm/cUn8s). One such endeavor is resulting from a new partnership through which the company is striving to turn trash into treasure.

In late February, MGX announced that it is moving forward with its previously detailed partnership with Highbury Energy Inc. (http://ibn.fm/mqq92) to develop a detailed thermochemical gasification process for the extraction of metals from petroleum coke (“petcoke”). Petcoke is an oil production waste product that currently poses a significant environmental hazard at sites around the world, but MGX and Highbury intend to utilize it for the production of battery metals, effectively turning a proverbial lemon into lemonade. Metals that can be extracted through the process include nickel, vanadium and cobalt, and the process also facilitates the extraction of hydrogen.

Petcoke is a carbon material byproduct of the oil and gas industry formed during the oil refining process. Because it originates from heavier petroleum fractions, it has a higher concentration of denser impurities like metals and sulphur compounds. Over the past 20 years, refineries have improved efficiency when it comes to processing extra-heavy crude oils (bitumen), and, as a result, petcoke output has increased substantially throughout the world – a very good thing for MGX and Highbury as they move forward in developing this innovative extraction process.

In Canada, the majority of petcoke output is found in close proximity to oil sand-producing regions where bitumen is upgraded into synthetic crude oil. The Province of Alberta, in particular, is noted for hosting large petcoke stockpiles. In 2016, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator, inventories of petcoke in Alberta were estimated at more than 106 million tonnes.

MGX recently announced that, through its partnership with Highbury, petcoke samples have been obtained and analyzed from oil sands in Alberta and also from refinery sales stockpiles of available petcoke (http://ibn.fm/vDbYh). Highbury is also currently conducting a phase II study that will include potential site location analyses, inclusion of pilot scale gasification, advanced metals extraction process design and initial plant design parameters.

Through the gasification process being jointly developed by MGX and Highbury, it is anticipated that about 45.8 percent vanadium, 0.13 percent cobalt and 5.3 percent nickel can be produced from refinery petcoke.

For investors, it’s important to remember that this is not MGX’s first foray into the innovative extraction of valuable metals. The company currently has a patent pending for its petrolithium technology, which is a Cleantech process used to purify wastewater and extract valuable metals, like lithium, from oilfield brine generated during oil and gas production. This disruptive technology has the potential to be the fastest, greenest and least expensive method of lithium production the world has ever seen.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.MGXMinerals.com

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