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US$42 million lithium processing pilot plant would be profitable

A new study has found that a proposed large-scale US$42 million lithium processing pilot plant can be cash positive, and indicates that mica material can be a competitive source of commercial lithium products. The study also identifies multiple avenues for further substantial capital and operating cost reductions.

These are the key findings of the initial work released today by Lithium Australia NL (ASX:LIT) and CPC Project Design Pty Ltd (“CPC”) in their design and evaluation of a Large-Scale Pilot Plant (“LSPP”) based on the application of LIT’s advanced SiLeach™ lithium processing technology. The pilot plant’s design uses a base annual lithium carbonate production of 2,500 tonnes (~1/10th scale of a full scale production plant).

SiLeach™ eliminates the expensive roasting step in conventional lithium processing, with the technology capable of treating lithium bearing minerals currently being disposed of as waste from mining operations around the world, due to a lack of suitable mineral extraction technology.

The LSPP design and execution objective was to construct and operate a facility that demonstrates the scalability of the Sileach™ process with break-even operating costs of US$10,000 per tonne of lithium carbonate. The CPC study shows this should be readily achievable without reliance on byproduct credits.

The study also concludes that:

? Recovery of high purity lithium carbonate that meets offtake specification, can be achieved;

? A LSPP will have a capital construction cost, including contingencies, of US$42 million;

? LSPP operating costs for a Malaysian based case, including the cost of feed material (estimated at US$365 per tonne on a ‘free in store’ basis or US$3,960 per tonne of lithium carbonate) but before accounting for by-product credits, are US$9,200 per tonne of lithium carbonate produced, which is below the LSPP study target break-even operating cost of US$10,000 per tonne of lithium carbonate;

? Hydrometallurgical plant operating costs of around US$5,600 – US$6,400 per tonne of lithium carbonate produced, without consideration of any potential by-product credits;

? By-product credits have potential to significantly reduce operating costs. However LIT has not included by-product value in this study as further test work is required. This work is currently in progress with LIT’s technology partners;

? Potential to make further significant improvements to both capital and operating costs by: o improved water management, a key driver of the capital cost; o optimisation of reagent mix and usage;

o improved control on neutralisation to minimise lithium losses; o optimising the trade-off of residence time versus recovery; and

o economies of scale transitioning from pilot plant testing to commercial operations.

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