MEC’s investment capital is targeted for new and emerging companies in which investments have the potential to yield significant returns.

MEC invests into a variety of industries including companies that are targeting potentially large energy and mineral resources. MEC aims to achieve maximum capital appreciation by investing in early stage companies with strong growth potential and a well-defined exit strategy, such as an initial public offering or acquisition.

MEC also holds a 0.125% interest in BPH Energy Ltd.

BPH ENERGY LTD (ASX:BPH)

BPH is a diversified investment holding company with investments in resources, medical and renewable hydrogen technology. BPH holds a circa 36% interest in Advent Energy Ltd and has also invested in Cortical Dynamics Ltd and Clean Hydrogen Technologies.

Cortical Dynamics is developing the world’s most reliable, flexible and objective medical brain monitoring technology capable of measuring both levels of unconsciousness and pain. The Brain Anaesthesia Response Monitor (BARM) is a device that measures a patient’s brain electrical activity (EEG) to indicate the response to drugs administered during surgery.

Cortical has completed its first human clinical trial using the BAR monitor end-to-end (from electrode to monitor). The aim of study was to (a) evaluate the BAR monitor’s ability to distinguish between two doses of fentanyl, a commonly used analgesic agent, and (b) assess

the immunity of the BAR monitor to a range of mechanical and electrical artifacts known to complicate EEG measurement. In the study a total of 25 patients undergoing coronary artery graft bypass surgery were recruited into the trial.

The analysis concluded that CI could differentiate between the different doses of fentanyl while CS was well correlated with the Bispectral Index (BIS), a generally accepted measure of sedation. In addition, this trial demonstrated the ability of the BAR monitor to operate effectively in an electrically noisy operating room environment. The trial’s findings suggest that the BAR monitor may find significant utility in the delivery of optimal and balanced surgical anaesthesia.

BPH has also invested in Clean Hydrogen Technologies, a USA Delaware registered company with technology to produce clean hydrogen.  They are currently building a system for commercial use, using their own unique catalysts and bespoke engineering processes, to generate clean hydrogen and conductive carbon used to manufacture batteries. The production of the two valuable products comes from processing natural gas with no CO2 emissions.

Their capabilities will help their customers accelerate their path to CO2 neutral, using an abundant natural resource, natural gas, with comprehensive existing infrastructure and supply chains in place. Their system has a modular based system design for supply to large scale solutions to meet upstream natural gas processing or downstream small scale needs to support hydrogen hubs for transport.

As part of their ongoing innovation and development they have filed 2 comprehensive patents in the USA and plan to continue to file further patents over the coming months. These patents reflect their capabilities at producing clean hydrogen and conductive carbon black with no CO2 emissions.

Clean Hydrogen Technologies are making the US market a key focus of their development plans. The US government has announced a funding of $9.5bn for the hydrogen industry, as part of the broader $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed by President Joe Biden.

Hydrogen demand in the United States is projected to reach up to 73 million metric tons by 2050 largely driven by its use as transportation fuel.