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Bradda Head Lithium commences second stage testwork at Basin East

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Global Mining Review,


Bradda Head Lithium Ltd has commenced the second stage of metallurgical testwork at Basin East (BE), working towards producing a final battery quality lithium product, and associated economic co-products. Results of the work are expected in 2H22.

Highlights:

  • The company, which already has 305 000 t lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) compliant JORC resource and an exploration target of up to 6 million t LCE at its Basin Project as identified by the Independent Consultant SRK, is now moving to produce larger quantities of lithium pregnant leach solution (PLS) from its BE clay in Arizona. The PLS will then be used to test Bradda’s proposed flow sheet to produce lithium end chemicals as well as co-products which will potentially help to enhance the projects economics.
  • The company has agreed terms with Resource Development Inc. (RDi) to carry out the work, which will take approximately three months to complete this phase.
  • RDi will sample 150 kg of lithium clay from BE with a view to producing lithium sulphate in a PLS. Bradda will then proceed to the production of lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate from the PLS, depending on the processing route decided by Bradda.
  • Bradda Head is looking into maximising future revenue from its Basin project by looking into how to extract economic quantities of co-products, which will help to reduce the overall operating cost at its Basin Project.
  • Once successful, the process will be optimised to apply the technology designed by Bradda on the PLS produced by this metallurgical testwork.
  • Results from this programme are due in 2H22, and if the proposed drill programmes at Basin provide a suitable increase in resource size, then Bradda will incorporate both into a PEA for 2023 (contractor not assigned), which would outline the route forward for Basin and demonstrate the projects economics.

Having received positive results from the first stage of metallurgical testwork in January 2022, Bradda Head has commenced the second stage of metallurgical testwork at its BE asset, and has awarded the contract to carry out the work to well-known industry experts RDi.

Based on recent concept tests, Bradda Head is proposing to carry out bulk tests on 150 kg of Li clay from Basin East to beneficiate it, then leach it, to generate enough lithium sulphate PLS to proceed further with impurity purification steps and then, once the company is happy with the process, to proceed to production of lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate.

Charles FitzRoy, CEO of Bradda Head Lithium, comments:

“The commencement of this test-work is another key milestone towards becoming a producer of LCE to the US market. We are delighted to be using RDi, which is extremely well-respected in its field, to be carrying out the work, and are confident of its expertise to produce high quality PLS from our Basin East sample.

“Bradda has a 44-hole programme planned at its Basin Project in 2022, and the results from the programmes will potentially form a larger resource at the end of the year which, when combined with the metallurgical work, will feed into a PEA study for 2023, which will help demonstrate the economics around the Basin Project.

“Lithium clay projects are more flexible in the lithium chemical they produce, and we have the opportunity to produce either lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide, depending on the market.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/08062022/bradda-head-lithium-commences-second-stage-testwork-at-basin-east/

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This article has been tagged under the following:

US mining news Lithium mining news North American mining news