Disposal of organic waste and on-site treatment of wastewater into public sanitary sewers can be a challenge and cost for a variety of industries—including producers of medical marijuana.

That’s why Aurora Cannabis has completed a strategic investment in Micron Waste Technologies for the treatment of organic waste generated in the cultivation and production of cannabis products.

Micron has developed a new technology, based on aerobic digestion and subsequent treatment, that converts organic waste into clean water that meets municipal effluent discharge standards.

Currently used methods to dispose of organic waste generally require the utilization of municipal landfill sites, which is costly and has a negative impact on the environment.

Micron will now install a digester unit at one of Aurora’s facilities, where the companies will jointly work to optimize the digestor for the cannabis industry. Upon successful completion of the project, Aurora intends to acquire multiple units for its various facilities. Micron will retain the intellectual property related to the digestor and shall pay Aurora a 4 per cent royalty for every unit sold to other licensed producers globally. Upon the first successful sale of a digestor within the cannabis industry, Micron shall issue to Aurora 2 million common shares.

“Micron’s technology is a very elegant solution to a time consuming and relatively costly operation at the end of our production process,” said Terry Booth, Aurora Cannabis Inc. founder and CEO. “We love the combination of the technology’s positive environmental impact with its cost-effectiveness. Upon successful completion of the optimization process, we will have access to yet another innovation to improve our facilities, and we look forward to working with the Micron team to bring this very promising technology to the cannabis sector.”

Rav Mlait, CEO of Micron, added, “Aurora with its innovative mindset is the ideal partner to develop a commercially ready unit for the cannabis industry. Becoming part of Auroras `growing constellation of technology partners would result in considerably expanded market reach, accelerate development of this side of our business, and provide strong brand recognition for Micron. We are also pleased having been able to attract additional strategic investors in our placement, raising further funds to accelerate the development of commercial solutions for expansion into other sectors.”

Aurora also completed a strategic investment in Micron, taking a 6.46 per cent ownership interest on a non-diluted basis, by acquiring 4.411,765 units, for a total investment of $1.5 million, as part of a private placement. The full placement consisted of 6,790,000 units for total gross proceeds of $2.3 million. Each unit consists of one common share and one common share purchase warrant, priced at $0.50, with an expiry date of 2 years following the closing of the placement.

Aurora Cannabis Enterprises Inc. is a licensed producer of medical marijuana based in Mountain View County, Alta.

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