Century Lithium Corp. (TSX-V:LCE, OTCQX:CYDVF) is “getting close” to producing battery-grade lithium at its pilot plant in Nevada, analysts at Noble Capital believe.
The company’s recent move to successfully add a lithium carbonate stage at its lithium extraction facility has earned plaudits from analysts.
“Angel Island is one of the few advanced lithium projects being developed in the United States to provide an end-to-end process to produce battery grade lithium,” Noble analysts wrote.
“Being able to produce battery grade lithium on site further demonstrates the commercial viability of the project and will also help the company to better optimize the process from the direct lithium extraction (DLE) phase through to production of the final product.”
Previously, the company relied on Saltworks in Richmond, British Columbia, to process concentrated lithium solutions into battery-grade lithium carbonate. The in-house capability now allows Century Lithium to manage the entire production process, Noble noted.
Initial assay results from the first lithium carbonate batches produced at the new stage show purity levels between 98.2% and 99.2%.
While these results fall short of the typical battery-grade standard of 99.5% purity, Noble noted that Century Lithium is addressing this issue. The company has identified equipment defects as a source of elevated calcium and magnesium impurities and anticipates improvements in future production runs to meet higher purity standards, analysts highlighted.
Noble has an Outperform rating on Century Lithium stock along with a US$2.43 price target.