• Silver assays up to 12.67 mg/kg
• Cobalt assays up to 13.68 mg/kg
• Seaweed grown using clean, filtered seawater from Sentosa island
• Testwork to be conducted on seaweed from polluted, brackish water in Johor, Malaysia

BPH Global Ltd (ASX: BP8) has announced the initial laboratory assay results of an R&D program conducted by Temasek Innovation Holdings Pte Ltd (TPIH) and Gaia Mariculture Pte Ltd. The program focused on cultivating the seaweed species Sesuvium Portucalastrum in clean, filtered seawater from Sentosa island in Singapore. The assay results showed silver concentrations up to 12.67 mg/kg and cobalt concentrations up to 13.68 mg/kg in the seaweed samples. The company believes the seaweed has the potential to act as a 'sponge' for absorbing base and precious metals from seawater and plans to investigate this further. The next phase of the R&D program will involve cultivating the seaweed in polluted, brackish waters in Johor, Malaysia to test the hypothesis that seaweed grown in dirty waters will absorb higher concentrations of minerals. The mineral search will also be expanded to include gold and base metals like copper.

The company plans to conduct further R&D to investigate seaweed's potential to absorb base and precious metals from seawater, including cultivating seaweed in polluted, brackish waters and expanding the mineral search to include gold and copper.