Battery-grade lithium hydroxide produced in a test programme based on ore from Keliber largest deposit.
Keliber has completed a four-phase pilot-scale test programme and verified the behaviour of the ore from the company’s largest deposit, Rapasaari, at all stages of the production process. A similar pilot-scale test programme has previously been carried out using ore from Syväjärvi, the mine where quarrying will start first.
In the last phase of the test programme, battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate was produced from spodumene concentrate that had been treated in a high-temperature conversion in a rotary kiln.
The hydrometallurgical technology, developed by Metso Outotec together with Keliber, includes soda pressure leaching and other process parts.
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The pilot trial was conducted at Metso Outotec’s demonstration plant, located in Pori. The continuous pilot trial lasted 400 hours, and a total lithium recovery rate of more than 88 percent was achieved.
It is a better result than what was estimated in the company’s Definite Feasibility Study published in March 2022.
Sami Heikkinen, Site Manager of Keliber’s Lithium Chemical Plant, said:
We are very pleased with the test programme’s progress and with the results achieved in the pilot trials.
“We have now verified that we can produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide from not only the Syväjärvi ore but also by using ore from our largest deposit in Rapasaari.”
Battery-grade Lithium Hydroxide Produced in a Test Programme Based on Ore from Keliber’s Largest Deposit, July 5, 2022
