TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX Venture Exchange-listed Lithium One has recovered the first lithium carbonate and potassium chloride from the on-site pilot plant at its Sal de Vida lithium brine project in Argentina.

The plant represents a smaller scale simulation of a commercial evaporation process operation that has been designed to concentrate and recover lithium and potassium from the Sal de Vida brines.

The pilot facility, which includes evaporation ponds and a lithium carbonate plant, started operation in early October.

“This is a key step towards the feasibility study at Sal de Vida, which is targeted for early 2012,” the company said.

Lithium concentrations of more than 1,25% have already been achieved in the test ponds and the potassium content of the brines at the potash recovery stage is at or above 4%, the firm said.

To date, four batches of lithium carbonate and two batches of potash have been recovered from the pilot facility.

“The results achieved in this short time frame confirm the quality of the brine chemistry and its performance in real-world testing conditions, which bodes well for the future economics of the process,” said CEO Patrick Highsmith.

“With the pilot plant operating we have accelerated our pace towards feasibility at the end of the year, while simultaneously working to complete the first resource estimate on the project in the next few weeks."

Lithium One shares declined 0,7% on Thursday, to C$1,44 apiece by 15:59 in Toronto.

A consortium made up of Korea Resource Corp, LG International and GS Caltex can earn 30% of the Sal de Vida project.

Lithium One also has a lithium project in Quebec, Canada.

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