JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Spodumene concentrate from the Wolfsberg lithium project, in Austria, has been used to make a battery-grade lithium carbonate, which bodes well for the project to be a strategic supplier to the lithium battery plants being developed in Europe.
Wolfsberg owner, ASX-listed European Lithium, reported on Thursday that hydrometallurgical testwork by Germany’s Dorfner Anzaplan showed that battery-grade lithium carbonate could be made from the flotation concentrate.
Unit processes included calcination, acid roasting and lithium dissolution, solution purification by neutralisation and ion exchange followed by carbonate precipitation and bicarbonatation.
European Lithium said the purity of the lithium carbonate met the common specifications for battery-grade lithium carbonate. The recovery of lithium from the spodumene concentrate as lithium carbonate was estimated as 86.8% for a continuous operation.
The battery-grade lithium carbonate can be reacted with lime to form soluble lithium hydroxide. A two-stage crystallisation is used to obtain lithium hydroxide which is then vacuum dried to form the monohydrate. The company also reported that elemental analysis had showed that the lithium hydroxide product met the common specifications for battery-grade lithium hydroxide. The recovery of lithium from spodumene concentrate as lithium hydroxide was estimated as 82.6% for a continuous operation.