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LITHIUM | Lithium Australia NL
Li Aust
Convertin
thium tralia NL
ng waste into battery chemicals
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LITHIUM | Lithium Australia NL
Lithium Australia has been in the lithium space for about five years. It is regarded as a founding member of Australia’s modern lithium sector, built largely around a cluster of spodumene deposits in Western Australia (WA). During that time, the lithium sector has been transformed by burgeoning demand from the global lithium-ion battery (LIB) market. Australian miners have responded by establishing a number of conventional hard rock lithium mines in anticipation of a massive surge in battery consumption globally. Lithium Australia, however, has taken a long-lens view of development in the sector. Having noted that active producers discard high levels of lithium mica material as waste, the company began developing an innovative technology to effectively process that mica. “Mining for other commodities, such as tin, tantalum and tungsten, also produces quite substantial streams of lithium that are discarded as waste – not as spodumene waste but as lithium micas,” says Adrian Griffin, managing director of Lithium Australia. “One reason for this is the fact that micas contain lower grades of lithium than spodumene, and those lower grades haven’t
Resource Global Network until now been capable of covering the operating costs required for conventional processing. “We saw an opportunity to develop a processing technology that could capitalise on lower-grade lithium materials … which drove us to focus on mineral processing rather than exploration,” he explains. As a consequence, Lithium Australia has evolved into a technology play with a very clear mindset – ‘let the miners explore and extract; we’ll handle the crucial processing stage’ – and the aim of supplying enough battery chemicals to meet growing demand.
Exploration portfolio That said, Lithium Australia’s SiLeach® technology is backed by one of the largest lithium exploration portfolios in the world, which begs the question: is Lithium Australia a process developer, an explorer or both? Griffin responds by explaining Lithium Australia’s current strategy. Gaining access to waste streams lessens exposure to mining costs, because someone else has already removed the material and would otherwise discard it as waste. Although Lithium Australia can cut attractive deals with miners for their tailings, reliance on third-party feed, particularly non-lithium feeds such as tantalum, means that any price volatility could have a significant impact on supply.
LITHIUM | Lithium Australia NL
“We decided the best way around this
“We’re very heavily invested in Australia and
potential problem was to develop an
that’s not surprising, given that this country
exploration portfolio as an insurance policy.
currently produces about 40% of the world’s
If you take the view that there’s more lithium lithium,” explains Griffin. Lithium Australia going to waste than ever gets into the supply has formed joint ventures with a number of chain, then there’s no justification for digging Australian lithium companies and has stakes another hole – but you certainly can justify
of various sizes in several WA-based projects,
being a primary producer if your supply is
along with a few in Queensland and South
interrupted.”
Australia and one in the Northern Territory.
With that in mind, Lithium Australia has
Lithium Australia also has a controlling
assembled a diverse exploration portfolio
interest in a substantial lithium clay project in
spread across major lithium provinces
Mexico and has entered into a joint venture
globally.
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with Tin International AG on a project in
Roasting has also been considered the only
Germany. That project is estimated to contain way to refine hard rock lithium material into an inferred mineral resource of 25 million
usable chemicals such as lithium carbonate.
tonnes at 0.45% lithium oxide, making it an
Until recently, the process has been
enticing prospect – the lithium is contained in undertaken exclusively in China but this is mica, liberated during the extraction of tin.
SiLeachÂŽ technology
about to change, with a new refinery under construction in Perth.
Having taken the long view in the Australian
The current method of producing lithium
lithium space, Lithium Australia observed
chemicals is as follows. Spodumene is mined
that conventional processing of spodumene
in, say, Australia and shipped to China, where
concentrate incorporated an energy-intensive it is roasted at a high temperature, baked roasting stage.
in sulphuric acid and then leached with
LITHIUM | Lithium Australia NL
Adrian Griffin, managing director
Resource Global Network water. Subsequent chemical steps refine the
“It’s important to capitalise on this potassium
solution until eventually lithium carbonate is
by-product credit. We do that by precipitating
produced.
potassium as potassium sulphate, which goes straight into the fertiliser industry, and that
“When we looked at the roasting method we
alone covers around 20-30% of the operating
concluded that, although the price of lithium
costs.”
carbonate was much lower then than it is today, you can’t roast with a feed grade that’s
Additional by-product credits to be gained
only half that of spodumene, because you
through use of the hydrometallurgical
can’t pay the energy bill,” says Griffin.
process include various aluminium chemicals and sodium silicate, with a few lesser-known
“So, the first thing was to ensure that the
chemicals also adding depth to the project
process we developed had a low energy
economics.
footprint. Then we looked at whether it’s possible to pull anything else, apart
To summarise, the low energy profile of the
from lithium, out of the resulting process
SiLeach® process is bolstered by the range of
solutions.”
commercially viable by-products that can be extracted alongside the lithium chemicals – a
The company concluded that the only
sweet combination for Lithium Australia.
way to achieve both ends was by way of a hydrometallurgical flowsheet, and that is how
Griffin believes that once by-product credits
SiLeach® was conceived.
are factored in, the company could become one of the cheapest lithium producers in
In a nutshell, the SiLeach® process involves
the world, even competing with the brine
slowly mixing lithium minerals with calcium
producers in the lithium triangle of South
fluoride before sulphuric acid is added to
America.
dissolve the mix into a recoverable form that contains several types of product, including
Pilot tests
the sought-after lithium chemicals.
Lithium Australia has developed a way of
By-products
effectively processing ‘waste’ material into lithium chemicals, but the purity of the end
As well as being a significantly cheaper
product remains an important consideration.
means of producing battery-grade lithium,
Therefore, it is not unreasonable for potential
the SiLeach® process for treating micas also
end-market users to question the purity of
creates a number of valuable by-products,
Lithium Australia’s product: anything below
including potassium sulphate. In fact, lithium
the industry benchmark of 99.5% hinders
micas typically contain 10-12% potassium
the chemical’s performance in lithium-ion
oxide, which is greater than that of contained
batteries.
lithium oxide which is generally 2-4%.
LITHIUM | Lithium Australia NL
With that in mind, Lithium Australia has
The LSPP, to be constructed in WA, will take in
conducted a series of test-tube and bench-
feed from the Lepidolite Hill deposit located
scale tests for its SiLeach® process, as well
just South of Coolgardie. Lithium Australia
as operating a pilot plant designed and
has a joint venture with Focus Minerals at
built by the Australian Nuclear Science and
Lepidolite Hill, but the plant will also take in
Technology Organisation.
feed from another source currently being negotiated by the parties concerned.
As a result of those continuous pilot tests, says Griffin, the company has verified its
Access to the plant site, where the
ability to produce ‘battery-grade’ lithium
infrastructure required is already in place,
carbonate on a continuous basis.
including power, water and gas supplies and road and rail access, is another matter under
Lithium Australia is now ploughing ahead
discussion.
with a large-scale pilot plant (LSPP) designed on a ratio of 1:10 to the eventual full-scale
“We’re also negotiating the acquisition of
plant.
long-lead-time items for the plant,” reveals Griffin. “Construction will take around 18
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months, but that time frame is dictated by
acumen. For 14 years, they researched
the delivery of those long-lead-time items.
cathode powder production technology
We anticipate seeing first production of
before setting up a world class facility in
lithium chemicals in 2020.”
Brisbane, Australia, to demonstrate cathode
VSPC
powder manufacture.
In other major news for Lithium Australia, the
“We took some of those cathode powders,
company has recently confirmed it will move
used them to produce new batteries and had
into cathode manufacturing and battery
the batteries independently tested against
recycling on the basis of its acquiring 99.7%
industry standards in a lab in Germany. They
of the Very Small Particle Company (VSPC),
outperformed industry standards.
an outfit Griffin believes is one of the most advanced cathode-powder manufacturing
“We think there’s enormous value in VSPC,
entities in the world.
and we’re rebuilding the company with a view to re-commissioning VSPC’s Brisbane pilot
VSPC was founded by a small group of
plant in the next couple of months,” Griffin
academics with considerable intellectual
reveals.
92
LITHIUM | Lithium Australia NL
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“WE SAW AN OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP A PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY THAT COULD CAPITALISE ON LOWER-GRADE LITHIUM MATERIALS … WHICH DROVE US TO FOCUS ON MINERAL PROCESSING RATHER THAN EXPLORATION” ADRIAN GRIFFIN, MANAGING DIRECTOR
Perhaps most interestingly, after some
During the last five years, then, Lithium
number crunching with respect to the
Australia has developed an innovative
logistics of battery manufacturing, Griffin
processing technology capable of
believes the most profitable part of the
transforming waste products into lithium
process lies in the final stage, in which lithium
chemicals for the voracious battery market,
carbonate becomes cathode powder.
along with several valuable by-products.
“It’s the sweet spot in the value chain, and
In addition, the company is developing an
we certainly hope we can capitalise on
ability to transform lithium chemicals into
that. Under those conditions [the venture
cathode powder through its purchase of
with VSPC], we’ll become the only company
VSPC, a move that will make it one of only a
capable of taking mine waste right through to
few fully integrated lithium cathode powder
cathode powder.”
producers in the world.
abj
Published by Anderson Murray Media Ltd
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