CleanTech Lithium completes DLE pilot plant first stage of production

Highlights:

• An initial volume of 88 m3 of concentrated eluate, which is the lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) of approximately 1 t, has been produced from the company´s DLE pilot plant in Copiapó, Chile, over an operating period of 384 hours with 14 cycles completed.
• This completes the first stage of production from the DLE pilot plant.
• Results show the DLE adsorbent achieved a lithium recovery rate of approximately 95% from the brine, with total recovery (adsorption plus desorption) achieving approximately 88%.
• Impurity rejection rates were very high producing a low impurity eluate conducive to the downstream conversion process.
• The concentrated eluate is being shipped in four batches to the facilities of Conductive Energy in Chicago, USA, for conversion into battery grade lithium carbonate.
• Conductive Energy completed test-work on a 200 l sample of concentrated eluate shipped in May 2024 to optimise the downstream process before receiving the larger volume shipments.
• The conversion test-work produced multiple samples of lithium carbonate with 99.75% lithium carbonate purity demonstrating that the process achieves targets and is repeatable.
• The result is a first confirmation that a process has been developed that will efficiently produce battery-grade lithium for the Laguna Verde project from pilot scale DLE eluate.
• CleanTech Lithium continues to be a leader in exploration and development of DLE based projects in Chile and this pilot scale production will provide large test samples of lithium carbonate to potential offtake partners seeking product qualification.
• Subject to the completion of the re-injection well in September, the reserve report for Laguna Verde is scheduled to be completed by Montgomery and Associates in October 2024.

Steve Kesler, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, of CleanTech Lithium PLC, said:

“We are very pleased by these results as it shows we can produce battery-grade lithium with low impurities from our Laguna Verde brine project. Working with our partners on the downstream process, Forward Water and Conductive Energy, we can now demonstrate the entire DLE process from brine to final lithium product.

“The optimised downstream process will now be applied to the initial volume of 88 m3 of concentrated eluate, or approximately 1 t of LCE, produced from the first stage of production from our DLE pilot plant. This will produce significant test sample volumes of battery-grade lithium carbonate for commencement of testing with potential strategic partners. This is important whilst the Chilean government is reviewing the feasibility of lithium projects to identify the most advanced companies in Chile and if they are to reach their target of having three to four new lithium projects in development by 2026.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/22072024/cleantech-lithium-completes-dle-pilot-plant-first-stage-of-production/