ASX-listed Arizona Lithium on Wednesday announced a major upgrade in the total resource of its Prairie lithium brine project, in Saskatchewan.
The project’s lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) resources have been increased to 6.3-million tonnes, a significant rise from the previously reported 5.7-million tonnes.
Arizona attributed the substantial increase to the successful acquisition and resource assessment of newly leased lands, adding an additional 600 000 t of LCE to Prairie’s resource base. Of this, about 500 000 t are classified as indicated.
The new resource comprises 4.5-million tonnes of LCE indicated and 1.8-million tonnes of LCE inferred.
Arizona reported that pilot testing at Prairie had been promising, achieving 95.6% lithium recoveries with a 99.9% rejection of impurities. Testing is continuing.
The company aims to deliver a prefeasibility study for Prairie before the end of December.
The Prairie project uses conventional oil and gas drilling and completion methods to access lithium-rich brine from aquifers about 2.3 km underground. The project will employ direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology to separate lithium from the brine. The extracted lithium concentrate is then converted onsite to an upgraded high-purity material.
The remaining lithium-depleted brine will be disposed of back underground into a different aquifer. The DLE process uses less land and fresh water while also generating less waste in comparison to hard rock and evaporation mining.