Amanda Hall

Life changed for Amanda Hall on a visit to a remote Tibetan mountaintop, watching the monastery's monk check his iphone.

It confirmed for the oil industry geophysicist that lithium, which is used in lithium-ion batteries for iphones and electric cars, was her future.

Now, as CEO and founder of Summit Nanotech, the 47-yearold mother of three daughters has developed state-of-the-art green extraction technology using materials that are synthesized and manipulated at the molecular level.

Both careers came from a lifelong love of physics, which Hall describes as “a language that, once you speak it, means the world is your oyster.”

Hall, who also has a biology degree, went into geophysics because “being a steward of the Earth resonates with me. It was a way to help and understand the planet.”

She taught herself nanotechnology, and her company's invention not only increases lithium yield but also significantly reduces greenhouse gases, fresh water use and chemical waste.

Hall describes Summit's all-female management group as “fearless,” leading a team of “smart scientists,” which tripled in size in 2020.

Summit will go from lab to pilot stage in partnership with Lithium Chile this spring, shipping its first unit to the Chilean desert. Test information gathered from the three-metre-tall pilot unit will be used to scale to commercial size.

The commercial-scale unit will be deployed to customers around the world from Summit's manufacturing facility, which is to be built in Calgary.

One potential customer, Tesla founder Elon Musk, is already watching after buying 10,000 hectares of lithium-rich clay next door to 3 Proton Lithium, another of Summit's pilot partners, in Nevada.

Hall will be raising capital this year, and again doubling her team.

As for naysayers: “In South America, I was told no miner would buy technology from a white gringa. I'm trying to break that mould. But I'm not going to tell you; I'm going to show you.”