PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Lithium Australia has reported the production of lithium-ion battery cathode material and lithium-ion batteries from tri-lithium phosphate produced directly from mine waste.
The company on Thursday said that its wholly-owned subsidiary VSPC had produced the lithium-ion products through its SiLeach process, which removes the requirement for generation of high-purity lithium hydroxide or carbonate.
“The remarkable outcome is a credit to our development team. The most notable aspect of this achievement is its simplicity and ability to streamline the process and cost required to produce lithium-ion battery cathode materials,” said Lithium Australia MD Adrian Griffin.
“The broader application to lithium brine exploitation provides enormous potential for that part of the lithium industry, by removing the cost intensive route to lithium hydroxide, the direct use of lithium phosphate to produce cathode powders may do that.”
The cathode material was produced at an advanced electrochemical laboratory and pilot plant facility in Brisbane, which is operated by VSPC.