Lithium Australia NL (ASX:LIT) is a dedicated developer of disruptive lithium extraction technologies.
The company has commenced piloting for continuous production of lithium carbonate under the second stage of the new test program at the Sileach™ pilot plant in Sydney, operated by ANSTO Minerals.
The step-up to “continuous” lithium carbonate production commenced in the past 24 hours and followed the initial pilot scale extraction of lithium from pegmatite ore sourced from Lepidolite Hill.
Lepidolite Hill is located 15 kilometres south of Coolgardie in Western Australia.
Next steps
The second stage of pilot testing will recover lithium carbonate, and potassium salts from solutions generated during the previous pilot plant test.
Lithium carbonate is used in lithium-ion batteries and potassium salts, which are valuable by-products of the process, are used as a major component of fertiliser.
Adrian Griffin, managing director, commented:
"Pilot testing the Company’s 100% owned Sileach™ process at the ANSTO Minerals has been very successful to date, extracting over 95% of the lithium.
"We anticipate very good results for the carbonate production step as the initial solutions are largely devoid of impurities."