Aurora Cannabis Inc (TSX: ACB)(NYSE: ACB) announced today that one of their extraction technology partners in Canada had received a processing license from regulatory officials. Radient Technologies (TSXV: RTI) is a firm that focuses on research and development in cannabis extraction, purification, and isolation technologies.
Back in 2016, Aurora had singled out Radient as an acquisition target due to its proprietary technology that could drastically increase production efficiency. One year later, Aurora would end up investing $12 million into Radient in order to be a early-market leader in the field of cannabis cultivation. Additionally, Radient released a separate press release today announcing the appointment of Aurora’s COO Allan Cleiren to its Board of Directors.
“Early on we identified that the ability to extract cannabis and hemp at large-scale while preserving quality would be a crucial competitive advantage to address the rapidly growing market for derivative products, such as vapes pen solutions, softgels, edible, and beverages,” said Aurora CEO Terry Booth. “With the upcoming new regulations permitting additional form factors and Radient’s recent receipt of its processor license, we are in a strong position to rapidly expand production of a broad portfolio of extract-based products, tying in well with the significant scale-up of our global cannabis and hemp operations. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Denis Taschuk and his team at Radient to drive accelerate growth for both companies.
Radients technology, called Microwave Assisted Processing (MAP), permits the extraction of ingredients from cannabis and hemp through localized heating of the moisture present in organic materials.
As opposed to traditional solvent-based extraction technologies, Radient’s MAP technology can achieve extraction speeds of minutes as opposed to hours. Additionally, MAP technology gets rid of harmful toxic solvents, using only water and ethanol while also being less expensive and more scalable. The new processing license helps the company move one step closer to implementing this technology on a massive scale, something Aurora would significantly benefit from.
Aurora Cannabis Company Profile
Headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with funded capacity in excess of 500,000 kg per annum and sales and operations in 22 countries across five continents, Aurora is one of the world’s largest and leading cannabis companies. Aurora is vertically integrated and horizontally diversified across every key segment of the value chain, from facility engineering and design to cannabis breeding and genetics research, cannabis and hemp production, derivatives, high value-add product development, home cultivation, wholesale and retail distribution. – Aurora Cannabis
Radient Technologies Company Profile
Radient Technologies Inc is a Canada-based company engaged in microwave-assisted natural product extraction, purification and isolation. Its principal activity includes the research and development of its technology for the extraction of soluble products from a range of materials using microwave technology. Its products include Valerenic Acid 0.8%, Valerenic Acid 1.6%, Carnosic Acid 20% and Carnosic Acid 40%.
It extracts natural compounds from a range of biological materials using its Microwave Assisted Processing (MAP) natural product extraction technology platform. Its MAP technology is based on the selective and localized heating of the moisture present in all natural materials using microwaves as the energy source. The Company is involved in extracting, isolating and purifying food/nutraceutical ingredients (colorings, flavorings and preservatives) and pharmaceutical raw materials. The Company’s extraction process uses a range of solvents, including ethanol, hexane and acetone. – Reuters
