Core Lithium announces production of battery grade lithium hydroxide from spodumene from Finniss Lithium Project. Advanced Australian lithium developer Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) (Core or Company) is pleased to announce the production of battery grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LH) from spodumene mineral concentrate from the Finniss Lithium Project.
The scoping level test work program has demonstrated that the conventional ‘direct’ flowsheet can be applied by Core Lithium to the processing of the mineral concentrate sample to produce battery grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate.
In light of the success of this program and the recently granted Federal Government Major Projects status, Core is now considering the obvious down-stream value potential given the Project’s synergies with the adjacent Middle-Arm industrial infrastructure near Darwin.
As well as the alignment with Australia’s Modern Manufacturing strategy, and the rapid expansion of global lithium battery supply chains to meet the demands of the ever-increasing LIB, electric vehicle (EV) and renewable energy markets.
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Demonstration of the production of battery grade LH in this program provides Core
and its customers confidence in the value of the Finniss Project, its importance to
Australia’s northern regional economy, and strengthening Australia’s position further
downstream in the global lithium battery supply chain.
Core remains focussed on completing the Finniss Lithium Project concentrate DFS
and finalising current live off-take negotiations ahead of reaching a Final Investment
Decision (FID) in Q3 2021.
Testwork Program
Objectives
The test work program was completed by the Minerals Business Unit of the Australian
Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). ANSTO is one of Australia’s largest public research organisations and its Minerals personnel have extensive lithium processing experience with hard rock and brine feedstocks, to produce high purity chemical concentrates required for the manufacture of lithium ion batteries (LIBs).
The main objective of the test work program was to demonstrate the production of ‘battery grade’ LH using a sample of the Finniss Project spodumene mineral concentrate composited from previous Grants and BP33 gravity concentrate test work (refer CXO ASX announcements 17/04/19, 10/03/20 & 15/4/20). Scoping level test work was conducted on the major unit processes of the ‘direct’ conversion approach.
The ‘direct’ conversion flowsheet involves decrepitation, sulfation baking / water leaching, purification, Glauber salt crystallisation and lithium hydroxide crystallisations. The test work program was specifically designed to confirm the suitability of the major unit processes and provide an increased level of confidence in the process modelling.
Results
Without optimisation of the decrepitation, sulfation baking or water leaching conditions, excellent extraction of lithium (>95%) was achieved in two separate tests on 2 kg samples of blended concentrate.
Conventional impurity removal steps as well as three stages of crystallisation afforded excellent rejection of the key impurities, potassium, sodium and sulphur as well as minor impurities such as rubidium and caesium.
Conclusions
The most critical factor to the successful extraction of lithium from spodumene mineral concentrates is the decrepitation step and the complete conversion of α- to β-spodumene. This has been achieved for the samples of the initial Finniss spodumene mineral concentrate, with additional mineralogical data increasing confidence in the processibility of the mineral concentrate.
Following decrepitation to β-spodumene, the major unit processes of a conventional ‘direct’ process flowsheet can be applied to convert the contained lithium to lithium hydroxide monohydrate, which satisfies the commonly referenced Livent battery grade LH specification.
The knowledge of the process chemistry associated with all the major unit processes, especially each stage of LH crystallisation, gained from this program has allowed development of a preliminary process model.
Stephen Biggins, Managing Director Core Lithium:
The nnouncement confirms that battery grade lithium hydroxide suitable for high-end uses in the lithium battery, renewable energy and electric vehicle industries, can be produced from Core’s excellent quality lithium concentrate produced from the Finniss Project.
“This successful proof-of-concept test work provides Core, and our customers, the
confidence in utilising Finniss lithium concentrates in the global lithium battery
supply chain.”
“Together with the recent award of Major Project Status from the Federal Government, this program lays a foundation for Core to explore the potential of adding downstream processing infrastructure to our portfolio, incorporating the strong synergies with the infrastructure at the nearby Middle-Arm Industrial Precinct at Darwin Port and aligning with Australia’s national Modern Manufacturing Strategy and expansion of the Global lithium battery supply chain.”
About the Finniss Lithium Project
The Finniss Lithium Project is Australia’s most advanced new lithium projects on the ASX and places Core Lithium at the front of the line of new global lithium production. Finniss is also one of the most capital efficient lithium projects in Australia and has arguably the best logistics chain to markets of any Australian lithium project.
The Project lies within 25km of port, power station, gas, rail and one hour by sealed road to workforce accommodated in Darwin and importantly to Darwin Port – Australia’s nearest port to Asia.
Lithium is the core element in batteries used to power electric vehicles, and the Finniss Project boasts world-class, high-grade and high-quality lithium suitable for this use and other renewable energy sources.
Highlights
• Scoping level test work on Finniss Project spodumene mineral concentrate sample has produced ‘battery grade’ lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LH)
• Core’s LH satisfied all impurity specifications of the commonly referenced battery grade specification from Livent1
• Conversion to battery grade LH used the conventional ‘direct’ flowsheet
• Excellent extraction and recovery of lithium to LH crystallisation steps (>95%)
• Core believes Finniss lithium concentrate quality suitable for the high-end Lithium Battery, Renewable Energy and EV industries
• Customer demand for Core’s high-quality concentrate and spodumene prices increasing rapidly – Core aiming to complete new offtake deals in due course
• Core on-track to update Finniss Lithium Concentrate DFS ahead of FID Q3 2021
Battery Grade Lithium Hydroxide produced from Finniss Project Concentrate, April 6, 2021
