Anson Resources Ltd (ASX:ASN) is continuing to progress the in-field pilot plant development at its Paradox Lithium Project in Utah, US.
The pilot plant for the Paradox project is being built on an existing well pad, Cane Creek 32-1, which will reduce infrastructure development, time and costs.
Infrastructure construction progress
Supporting infrastructure is being built in parallel with the design and engineering of the pilot plant, and a key step is the commissioning of tanks to hold brine extracted from the Cane Creek 32-1 well for use in the in-field pilot plant.
Brine holding tanks being delivered and installed
Each tank has a capacity of 400 barrels (63,595 litres) and will be used to feed brine to the pilot plant to ensure a continuous, uninterrupted supply of raw brine.
Anson has been able to re-use the bunded area that was used during oil production and will use existing underground piping between the wellhead, storage tanks and waste tanks that were also used during oil production.
This will result in a significant saving in infrastructure development costs and time as the company continues to fast track the project to production.
Further infrastructure development work will be undertaken over the coming months to establish the in-field pilot plant at the Cane Creek 32-1 well site.
Design and Engineering
Hatch and Lilac Solutions are advancing with the design and engineering of the in-field pilot plant.
Hatch is designing the pre-treatment and is working closely with Hazen on the test work being conducted for the extraction of iodine and bromine which are being considered as part of the pre-treatment process.
Lilac is responsible for its proprietary ion exchange process that extracts the lithium from the brine.
Hatch is also working on the design of the process to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate/hydroxide during the operation of the pilot plant.
The conceptual flow sheet of the in-field pilot plant
The in-field pilot plant is one of the steps in progressing to a pre-feasibility study, and to produce lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) and/or lithium hydroxide (LiOH) samples for testing by prospective offtake partners.
Process Refinement Test Work
Hazen’s pre-treatment test work is continuing. The results will be used by Hatch in the pilot plant design and engineering of the brine pre-treat stage prior to the brine being processed in Lilac’s Ion Exchange.
Hazen is continuing to optimize the by-product removal sections in parallel to the pilot plant engineering, targeting the recovery of iodine, boron and bromine products.
The test work is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.