European Lithium Ltd (ASX:EUR, OTCQB:EULIF) has tabled analysis based on lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide produced during test-work on samples from the Wolfsberg Lithium Project in Austria.
Importantly, the results demonstrate that high-quality, battery-grade lithium product can be produced from Wolfsberg with very low impurities.
The test-work findings come just one day after European Lithium upsized its Wolfsberg lithium resource by 11%.
EUR chairman Tony Sage noted: "Together with the recent announcements in the resource upgrades these metallurgical results further enhance the value of the Wolfsberg Project."
Test-work assays
European Lithium’s new results are founded on a comprehensive test-work program.
Bulk samples were collected from ore stockpiles, which were obtained from underground mining activities during 2013.
Roughly 500 tonnes of ore from each host material had been mined at the time.
Overall, bulk samples from each material type were composited from 50 one tonne samples taken along the length of the stockpiles for representative metallurgical testing.
Anzaplan, a consultancy and engineering business based in Germany, was contracted to carry out a series of tests using these bulk samples.
The end goal was to provide information that would underpin various feasibility studies for Wolfsberg, including:
- Sensor-based ore sorting tests to minimise dilution of ore into a process plant;
- Pilot test work to understand the physical processing characteristics of the Wolfsberg ore into a spodumene concentrate product;
- Settling and filtration tests;
- Gravity separation techniques for mica removal;
- Hydrometallurgical tests for conversion of spodumene concentrate into a lithium carbonate product; and
- Conversion tests for production of lithium hydroxide from lithium carbonate to determine recoveries and end-product specifications.
The results are in
End product quality results have now been received for both lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide produced from the Wolfsberg ore, compared against a series of German Industry Normal Specifications.
These specifications were derived from a cross-section of Anzaplan’s experiences with end-users in lieu of a definitive industry standard, which currently does not exist.
Ultimately, the results show a high-quality, battery-grade specification of either lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide can be produced from the Wolfsberg ore.
What’s more, assays on the major impurities in the lithium hydroxide product are all well below the comparable product specification.
The lithium content is calculated as 100% minus the total impurities (including minor impurities not listed).
The full raft of results are tabled below:
