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Mantra Venture Group, Ltd. (OTCBB: MVTG)

Mantra Venture Group, Ltd. (OTCBB: MVTG) is building a portfolio of subsidiary companies and technologies that mitigate negative environmental and health consequences that arise from the production of energy and the consumption of resources. Mantra is quoted on the OTCBB under the symbol MVTG and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol 5MV.

Mantra Energy Alternatives Ltd. (ME)

Mantra Energy Alternatives Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mantra Venture Group, which acquired 100% ownership of the invention referred to as the Electro-Reduction of Carbon Dioxide, or “ERC” in 2008. ERC was developed by Professor Emeritus Colin Oloman at the University of British Columbia’s Clean Energy Research Centre.

ERC uses only three components which makes the end product formate or formic acid:

• CO2
• Water and
• Electricity

Progress has been made with the development of ERC since its acquisition by Mantra Energy.

Production Goals and Accomplishments

Technical milestones have been made in the following areas:

• Energy requirement has been reduced by a third
• Process efficiency raised from 50% to 90% (a figure that is acceptable in an electrochemical process)
• Physical structure has been improved and energy flow eased
• Cathode catalyst has been upgraded, its efficiency and lifetime improved
• Complete turnkey system suitable for industry has been conceived and the separate parts tested.

Formic Acid the Key Ingredient

Formic acid, the strongest of the bio-degradable organic acids can replace caustic acids in such applications as hot rolled steel and is much more environmentally friendly than any of the other acids used in industrial processes today.

Formic acid commands a current market price of $1,500 per ton and can replace some of the chemicals currently being derived from petrochemical processes.

Given the diverse applications for using formate or formic acid as a base chemical, ERC could support expansion of already existing multi-billion dollar industries, as indicated by the list of applications below:

• Fuel cell feedstock (twins with our proprietary fuel cell owned by Mantra NextGen Power Ltd.)
• Steel pickling
• Plastics
• Building materials
• Animal feed
• Leather treatment
• Textiles
• Rubber
• Pulp and paper
• Pharmaceuticals
• Transportation: organic de-icer

Return on Investment from Mantra

At present, based on conservative calculations, Mantra estimates a forecast of approximately 15% to 20% ROI for ERC adopters (return on investment).

Real-world demonstration testing will refine and confirm these figures, giving Mantra Energy a realistic platform for its next stage – sale of commercial plants.

The demonstration projects will open up markets in power utilities and cement production.

Scale Up Progress – Scale Up Is Simple and Turnkey

Scale Up: many new technologies struggle to go from laboratory prototypes up to full sized commercial plants. One of the advantages of ERC is that it is electrochemistry, an established and well understood branch of chemicals processing. Electrochemistry is developed first for a single cell, and each cell thereafter is identical to the others. Scale up is a matter of installing the number of cells needed to meet the production goal, not of developing and expanding a single chemical process.

Intellectual Property

Mantra owns the intellectual property PCT applied for WO 2007/041872, Continuous Co-current Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide. This was acquired from Professor Colin Oloman’s company in 2008, after seven years of development at the Clean Energy Research Laboratory at the University of British Columbia.

Global Patenting Underway – examinations in process in Australia and Europe.
See: http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=2007041872.

Timeline of Milestones

• Acquired IP in 2007 from Professor Emeritus Colin Oloman
• Continued advancing the technology in the lab from 2008 to 2010
• Secured Lafarge for demonstration testing and on-site development October 2010
• Entered into partnership in February 2011 with Kemira Oyj
• Kemira Oyj is the world 2nd largest producer of formic acid
• Kemira Oyj has implemented back-end processes to bring formic acid up to industry grade, resulting in a complete ERC supply chain

Business Model

Mantra anticipates a licensing process whereby it will manage sales of ERC plants, client contracts, and will receive and manage the royalties and fees. Long-term relationships will be created with valuable research and development laboratories, whether government or private.

Market Opportunities

ERC will find its natural partners among the large emitters of greenhouse gasses (CO2 makes up 85% of GHG). These include the power utilities, especially those that burn coal to generate electric energy. Manufacturers of portland cement are also large emitters putting out approximately 1 metric tonne of CO2 for every tonne of product. The steel industry is an obvious emitter, as is the oil and gas industry at its well head sites and refineries. The chemicals industry is a major emitter. All of the above-noted industries command multi-billion dollar market values and abundant opportunity for profit for ME and its partners.

Existing Partners

Existing partners include:

Kemira Oyj of Finland
Lafarge

Kemira Oyj of Finland (“Kemira”)

Kemira is a global € two billion green chemicals company that is focused on serving customers in water-intensive industries. It is the second largest manufacturer of formic acid worldwide. Kemira ChemSolutions (“ChemSolutions”), a subsidiary of Kemira Oyj, is a leading producer of formic acid and organic acid salts.

ME has negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with Finland-based Kemira Oyj (“Kemira”). This completes a link in its processing and supply chain for the conversion of carbon dioxide (“CO2″) emissions into the strongest of the organic acids, formic acid. The partnership is mutually beneficial as it both ensures a long-term and steady supply of formic acid to Kemira for their various chemical applications, while it concurrently assists ME in meeting the needs of its ERC industrial clients in resolving CO2 emission problems.

Additionally, Kemira has expressed an intent to co-partner in developing additional green products using formic acid as a base chemical component. This key partnership sets the platform for multiple future revenue streams for ME, Kemira and future industrial clients, all using formic acid derived from ME’s novel ERC technology.

As an indication of Kemira’s commitment to optimization of the processing and supply chain, they have agreed to build a key component of the ERC system: the back end process which improves the formic acid output up to market ready specification on site. When synergistically combined, the ERC commercial package will include technology from both parties that is scalable and turnkey for industrial clients such as cement plants, coal-fired power plants, refineries, and other large emitters. Optimization of ERC with Kemira’s added partnership strength will facilitate the manufacturing of a steady long-term supply of formic acid at a lower cost than existing processes, which are based on fossil fuels, the cost of which are forecasted to increase in the future. Adding further benefit to the partnership opportunity is Kemira’s ability to handle worldwide sales and marketing of formic acid, alleviating any pressure on ME to independently develop a distribution chain.

Lafarge

Mantra Venture Group has secured an ERC (Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide) demonstration project with Lafarge Canada.

Lafarge North America Inc., together with its subsidiary, Lafarge Canada Inc., is the largest diversified supplier of construction materials in North America. Lafarge is the world leader in building materials, with top-ranking positions in all of its businesses: Cement, Aggregates & Concrete and Gypsum. With 78,000 employees in 78 countries, the Group posted sales of 15.9 billion Euros in 2009. Lafarge North America Inc. (“Lafarge North America” or “Lafarge”), a Lafarge Group company, is the largest diversified supplier of construction materials in the United States and Canada. Lafarge Canada Inc. and Systech Corporation are subsidiaries of Lafarge North America Inc.

Over the course of the project, schedule to begin in the first half of 2011, ME, Lafarge and its wholly owned subsidiary Systech Corporation, will build and deploy a 100kg ERC pilot plant at one of Lafarge’s North American cement plants, located in Richmond, BC. The project is expected to further advance ME’s ERC technology for large-scale applications and demonstrate the effectiveness of ME’s ERC technology in converting CO2 into valuable green chemicals.

In 2010 and for the sixth year in a row, the Lafarge Group was listed in the “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World.” With the world’s leading building materials research facility, the Lafarge Group places innovation at the heart of its priorities, working for sustainable construction and architectural creativity. For more information about Lafarge North America, go to www.lafarge-na.com.

Mantra Value

ERC is a method of recycling carbon dioxide into valuable non-volatile green chemicals, called formate or formic acid, a by-product of CO2 recycling that enables industrial CO2 emitters to make profit off of their emissions rather than incur a cost to sequester CO2.

Mantra Energy’s technology adds an additional profit to an industrial emitters bottom line, rather than a cost, such as what occurs with CCS. By using ERC, an emitter can avoid adding unnecessary cost to outputs which would otherwise be passed along to the consumer. Using ERC could dramatically reduce the cost of sales and increase gross margins for industrial emitters.

There are currently 27 Billion metric tonnes of CO2 emitted annually from fossil fuel combustion, an inexhaustible supply of feedstock for the production of formic acid (HCOOH) which has the potential to command an initial market value of approximately USD $1 billion.

Movement Internationally for Green Energy

Pressure is mounting for emitters to curb their excess: in the USA almost half of the coal powered power plants planned have been cancelled in the period between 2000 and 2009. This is due to the legislation planned, even if it has not all been implemented. As a result, there is growing uncertainty in industry as to the security of their future power supplies. Various carbon emission mitigation strategies are being evaluated but no clear answers have been recognized. CCS (carbon capture and sequestration) has been promoted by various governments, but industry has recognized, and is concerned at the cost both to the environment and to the emitters themselves, the conclusion on the efficacy of CCS as a means to address CO2 emissions and has been less than enthusiastic. This is hardly good for the economy.

ERC will offer a carbon negative answer that has attractive economics; it will offer an alternative to CCS in many situations. Just like CCS, it has yet to be fully demonstrated and its economics made widely public. ERC’s natural partners will appear in large numbers when it can point to demonstrations and can publish its technical and economic results.

Mantra Energy Outlook

After proving the success of the ERC process, Mantra Energy intends to test and develop other novel applications that use formic acid as a precursor chemical. Mantra Energy’s formic acid production will eventually cause a surplus of formic acid and for that reason Mantra Energy is poised to patent new applications and technologies using formic acid such as new green chemicals, bio-fuels and building materials, which are just a small sampling of the potential application of using formic acid as a base chemical component. New processes will be collaboratively developed with Mantra’s partners to exploit all potential applications and markets for formic acid.

Carbon negative plastics are a strong example of a promising area in which to use formic acid. Using formic acid in bio-plastics would replace use of petrochemicals and create unique value thru additional IP. In 2010 the global bio-plastics industry reached sales of$2.74B and is expected to reach an estimated value of $11.14B by 2015, which presents a tremendous opportunity for ME in developing its green plastics platform.

ERC an also facilitate the development of new carbon negative building materials using formate/formic acid as a base green chemical compound.

Mantra Venture Group is a clean-tech incubator and developer

• ME owns the patent rights to a cutting-edge technology to convert CO2 into high value chemicals, formate and formic acid, using only three ingredients: CO2, water and electricity
• For every tonne of CO2 input into the ERC system, 960 kg of formic acid is produced
• Formic acid and formate have a current market price of approximately $1,500 per tonne
• Formic acid is a precursor chemical to many other industrial chemicals and applications including, but not limited to: fuel cell feedstock, green plastics, steel pickling, replacement of strong acids, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, textiles, leather treatment, rubber treatment, organic de-icer
• Over $3.5 million has been expended to date on ERC technology development from bench scale through to demo preparedness
• Industry partners have come together to complete the supply chain – field testing will streamline the process and logistics to facilitate the transition from pilot to commercial operations
• Technology is scalable and turnkey and could provide as much as an estimated 15 – 20% ROI for ERC adopters
• Provides an alternative method of dealing with CO2 emissions in light of emerging issues with Carbon Capture and Sequestration

Mantra’s India Trade Mission

During a recent trade mission to India, Mantra carved out a significant identify for its novel, cutting edge carbon recycling technology. Mantra identified multiple fits with many organizations that the Company met with while on the trade mission and will be following up with them to determine the optimal synergies to facilitate deal flows between the interested companies:

Tata Consulting Engineers who are recognised as the leading consulting engineering organisation in India. Tata provides advanced, state-of-the-art technology and cost-effective solutions to industrial clients in the following sectors: power, chemical, mining, metals and metallurgy, construction and infrastructure development.

Urja Renewable Energy Consultants offer consultant services in renewable energy sources to the Indian marketplace.

JSW Steel is the flagship company of the $10 billion O.P. Jindal Group. JSW steel produces steel products of all forms and varieties. JSW Steel also recently entered into an agreement to acquire and integrate operations with ISPAT Industries who also met with Mantra during the visit.

Ambuja Cements Ltd. (“Ambuja”) is one of India’s leading cement companies with a strong focus in sustainable business practices and corporate responsibility. Ambuja has five integrated cement manufacturing plants and eight cement grinding units across the country. Ambuja enjoys a reputation of being one of the most efficient cement manufacturers in the world. Its environmental protection measures are on par with the finest in the country. It is one of the most profitable and innovative cement companies in India. Ambuja has also pioneered the development of multiple bio-mass co-fired technologies for generating greener power in its captive plants.

ACC Ltd. (“ACC”) is also one of India’s foremost cement companies with a countrywide network of factories and marketing offices. ACC has won accolades for its environmental stewardship and has received numerous awards for its acts of good corporate citizenship. ACC carries out it business under three interdependent goals being “economic development, social development and environmental protection.”

IndESCO is an energy services company helping businesses reduce their overall energy costs while reducing their carbon footprint and developing renewable energy projects. IndESCO also provides international business and strategy advice to companies all around the world, in the broader energy and cleantech sectors.

Ashoka BuildCon is engaged in the engineering, procurement and construction (“EPC”) of a wide range of infrastructure projects all across India.

Uttam Galva Steels Ltd. is also one of India’s leading manufacturers of cold roll steel and galvanized steel in India.

Equirus Finance is a mid market focused investment bank, founded with the intent of providing quality investment banking and related advisory services for Indian Corporates with global aspirations.

Top 25 Promising Technologies of 2011

Mantra Venture Group Ltd. was designated as number fifteen in the Top 25 promising technologies of 2011.

This recognition of the need for large GHG emitters globally to become actively involved with carbon recycling is another affirmation of our endeavor.

Link: http://www.businesspundit.com/25-most-promising-products-for-2011/.
Full background interview http://www.businesspundit.com/pulling-profits-out-of-carbon-capture-an-interview/.

Mantra NextGen Power Ltd.

Another Mantra subsidiary, Mantra NextGen Power Ltd., has licensed the rights to a leading edge fuel cell that utilizes formic acid as one of its fuel sources. Conceptually, by pairing ERC with ME’s own unique fuel cell, also designed by Professor Colin Oloman, ME believes it will be able to develop a closed loop power system, allowing a CO2 emitting industry to have a new level of energy flexibility.
The Mantra NextGen Mixed Reactant Fuel Cell (“MFRC”) cost of manufacture promises to be much cheaper than the conventional fuel cell since it is a simpler, less expensive design. In addition, MFRC uses readily available formic acid from ME’s own ERC system as its feedstock. As ERC deployment advances that expansion will be paralleled with the next phase of development with MFRC which is to test it in real world applications, leading to commercialization thereafter.

Corporate Management

Larry Kristof
Founder

Larry Kristof Larry Kristof has over 15 years experience in business development and corporate leadership. In 2003, Mr. Kristof co-founded Lexington Energy – a company engaged in manufacturing and leasing oilfield service equipment to oil and gas, and other oil field service companies. Under Mr. Kristof’s direction, Lexington introduced the first nitrogen-on-demand system to Alberta oil markets. The technology represented a significant advancement in the application of nitrogen technology, with purification capabilities of 98-99.5%. Lexington later became the first manufacturer of drilling systems specifically designed for oil sands exploration coring. Through the successful introduction of these technologies, the company transitioned from concept through to a revenue generating company with assets of over $7 Million during Kristof’s time with the company. After recording corporate revenues of $2 Million in the first two quarters of 2007, Mr. Kristof resigned from Lexington Energy to focus full-time on the Green Tech sector as Founder of Mantra Venture Group Ltd.

Shawn Kim
VP International Business Development

Mr. Kim has nine years experience in the financial industry where he started as a business analyst. After dedicating 3 years to Mackenzie Financial Corporation in Toronto, he moved to AIG in Korea where he successfully implemented a worldwide marketing model and secured new business alliances. In his most recent role, Mr. Kim served as an International Business Consultant with the District of North Vancouver. Mr. Kim graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1996 with a BA in Administrative and Commercial Studies.

Stacy Broadoway
VP Corporate Development

Stacy Broadoway is a executive management professional experienced in start-ups, corporate structuring, corporate finance and enterprise development– with recent emphasis on the growing high-tech/green-tech sectors. Ms. Broadoway has been a key driver behind the launch of several junior natural resource public companies over the past five years that have gone on to flourish under her guidance. Ms. Broadoway has special expertise in IPO’s, secondary financings and ongoing maintenance of public companies. Ms. Broadoway possesses executive level experience as both an officer, and director of many of her past client companies. Ms. Broadoway over the years has developed a keen insight into macro and micro economics and understands the current pressure points on global resources – she uses this knowledge to guide enterprise development.

Kemetco Research Inc.
Norman Chow, P.Eng
President, Director, Industrial Process, Kemetco Research Inc.

Norman Chow earned a B.A.Sc. in Metals and Materials Engineering from the University of British Columbia, graduating top of his class. Continuing his education, he received a Masters of Applied Science Degree and then became a Registered Professional Engineer (P. Eng.) in British Columbia. Mr. Chow has over 10 years of technology development experience and contract research experience. His background includes technology development, business management, international sales, project management and manufacturing.

Mr. Chow co-invented a patented electrochemical metal cleaning process that is currently used in approximately 50 systems spanning 12 countries. In addition, Mr. Chow has taken two companies from concept to commercialization and has built over 20 demonstration and commercial projects around the globe. He has been the winner of several prestigious awards that recognize his skills in engineering and business. In 1996, his patented metal cleaning technology won the Financial Post Gold Award for being the Top Environmental Technology in Canada, and then in 2004 he was named the winner of the Business in Vancouver Top Forty under 40 Award.

Joey Jung, MA.Sc, P.Eng
Research Engineer, Kemetco Research Inc.

Joey Jung earned his Masters of Applied Science Degree from the University of British Columbia in Chemical Engineering and subsequently became a Registered Professional Engineer (P. Eng.) in British Columbia. He has had a successful career in electrochemical engineering and battery research, formerly serving as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of a battery development company.

Advisory:

Professor Emeritus Colin Oloman
P.Eng, Scientific Advisory Board Member and Consulting Scientist

Professor Emeritus Colin Oloman has achieved many notable milestones throughout his career, including: designing, engineering, installing and operating Canada’s first pilot plant for scrubbing hydrogen sulphide from pulp mill recovery furnace flue gas (1965 – 1967); co inventing the Electro-Luber™ system and taking it from conception in 1976 to start-up in 1982 (http://www.atselectrolube.com/index. php); and designing, engineering, installing and operating a 1000 Amp (20 kW), 10 cell perforated bipole electrochemical reactor for production of alkaline peroxide (1984). he also shared the responsibility for the design, engineering, start-up and operation of two key projects: Australia’s first installation of oil, coal and oxygen injection to an iron blast furnace (1962-1964), and a pilot plant for the electrosynthesis of tetrahydroanthraquinone (1983-85).

Professor Oloman has acted as a consultant in the research and development of various electrochemical processes, including: the electrosynthesis of sodium chlorite, electrocoagulation for purification of bilge waters, and electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide.
He has authored or co-authored three books and has authored or co-authored over 45 proprietary reports and publications in technical journals. He is the inventor or co-inventor of some twenty US and international patents, including MRFC (inventor) and ERC (co-inventor). Prof. Emeritus Oloman has been a member of Mantra’s Scientific Advisory Board since November 2, 2007.

Directors

Larry Kristof – Director and Founder

(See Above)

Shawn Kim – Director and VP International Business Development

(See Above)

Jonathan Michael Boughen – Director

From May of 2000 to January of 2006, Mr. Boughen was a sales manager at Ropak Corporation, a company that specializes in plastic packaging, container and film technologies worldwide. His responsibilities and duties included managing the sales team and key distributors and sharing the profit and loss responsibility with the Regional Plant Manager.

Since June of 2006, Mr. Boughen has been a general manager at Scientek Technology Corporation, a company that specializes in building hospital and laboratory products such as washers and dryers for the processing of surgical instruments and utensils, O. R. carts, and laboratory glassware. His responsibilities and duties includes leading the company with full profit and loss responsibility and managing the sales and growth profit through major changes in technology and currency value in a highly competitive market.

AJ Buckley
Celebrity Spokesperson

AJ Buckley AJ Buckley is best known for his role as ‘Adam Ross’ on CBS’ CSI: NY, portraying the gifted scientist that brings a lot of humor to dark situations. In the critically acclaimed, “Skateland,” AJ stars as ‘Teddy Tulos,’ the heartfelt and captivating owner of an early 1980s small-town Texas skating rink.

Ireland native, AJ immigrated to Canada at age six and later spent his teenage years in British Colombia, where he began his acting career in the television series The Odyssey. He has since made more than 20 feature films including “Disturbing Behaviour,” “The In Crowd” and the critically acclaimed “Blue Car.” He has also appeared in such hit TV shows as Entourage, X-Files, Millenium, Without a Trace, NYPD Blue, Jack and Jill and Bones. Furthermore, a guest starring role as ‘Ed Zeddmore,’ leader of a group of wannabe ghost hunters in the popular CW series Supernatural, has led AJ to write, direct and star in a the critically acclaimed, Warner Brother’s original web based series, “The Ghostfacers,” (www.ghostfacers.com). Buckley is the owner of FourFront Productions and the part-owner of Scene Magazine – Louisiana’s top entertainment magazine.

Contact:
Larry Kristof
President and CEO
Mantra Venture Group Ltd.
#4 2119 152nd Street
Surrey BC V4A 4N7
Office: 604.535.4145 ext 234
Facsimile: 604.535.2597
Website: Mantra Energy — http://MantraEnergy.com
Email: larry@mantraenergy.com
Mantra on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mantraenergy

Forward-Looking Statements: Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties. See Mantra Venture Group’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission which identify specific factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

MVTG Disclosure: Pentony Enterprises LLC entered into an investor relations consulting and market awareness contract in March of 2011 with the company. We expect to receive a total of one hundred and ninety two thousand shares restricted shares subject to rule 144 for our first ninety days of coverage. We have also contracted for an unspecified number of shares for a potential renewal after this initial ninety day period of coverage. To avoid all potential conflicts of interest, we never sell shares into the open market during an active market awareness or investor relations program. This means that as we release new information about a particular client company either on our site or otherwise authored by us, you can be confident we are not selling shares at the same time. We hold no other shares and will not be receiving further compensation in shares or that is share related during this period outside of the potential renewal mentioned above. Pentony Enterprises is not a registered investment adviser or a broker/dealer. Pentony Enterprises LLC makes no recommendation that the purchase of securities of companies profiled in this web site is suitable or advisable for any person, or that an investment in such securities will be profitable. In general, given the nature of the companies profiled and the lack of an active trading market for their securities, investing in such securities is highly speculative and carries a high degree of risk.