TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Quebec-based project developer Nemaska Lithium has received a new Canadian patent that describes its proprietary process of preparing lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate from spodumene sources using membrane electrolysis.
TSX-V-listed Nemaska had also received a corresponding patent application in the US.
Nemaska advised the market on Wednesday that its electrolysis technology to convert lithium sulphate into lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate, had been successfully demonstrated in pilot plant testing as well as at supplier facilities over the past four years. In the past, electrolysis based technologies were commercially used in several industries and had demonstrated that it could be efficient and reliable.
"Our patent portfolio encompasses a number of unique processes that we have developed throughout the technology chain. In addition to developing the overall process, we have done a lot of work on the impurity removal systems, which allow us to produce one of the purest lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate products without the costly polishing steps that our competitors require,” stated technical manager Jean-Francois Magnan.
“This ensures that we will produce lithium-compound products at low costs and at very high purity. I believe these two critical factors will enable us to capture a significant share of the growing lithium compounds market,” he continued.
Nemaska had developed its own range of environmentally benign processes to produce high-purity, low-cost lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate products through the use of membrane electrolysis technologies.
According to its May feasibility study, its process ensured low and predictable operating costs of C$2 693/t for lithium hydroxide monohydrate and C$3 441/t for lithium carbonate free-on-board to Shawinigan. The process virtually eliminated costly reagents such as soda ash, thereby eliminating sodium sulphate by-product, which had no market value and was harmful to the environment.
Other benefits of its technology entailed significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions, as well as improved control on cost and quality of its final lithium products, for the benefit of its customers.
Nemaska planned to produce spodumene concentrate at its Whabouchi mine, in Quebec, which would be shipped to the corporation's lithium compounds processing plant to be built in Shawinigan, where it would produce its lithium-based products.