PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Arizona Lithium has inked a five-year lease to establish a lithium research center in Arizona.
The research center will focus on technological advancements in lithium processing and aims to advance the battery materials industry in Arizona, with construction expected to be completed in the next four months and key processing steps operational by the fourth quarter of 2022.
“Today marks a significant milestone for the development of Big Sandy and for what we believe to be the lithium industry as a whole,” said Arizona Lithium MD Paul Lloyd.
“We have signed a long-term lease for the development of a research center that will initially test the Big Sandy orebody, but we expect it to ultimately test other lithium sources and become a center for innovation within the lithium industry. We note the support of the Arizona government, and particularly the Arizona Commerce Authority, who have helped us with the research center, as well as providing grants and incentives to further improve the economics.
“We will use this research center to refine our flow sheet based on the previous test work undertaken by Hazen Research, and also explore new technologies. With the recent appointment of Brett Rabe as chief technical officer, we have a fantastic leader for this project, and we are excited to see it in operation later this year.”
Arizona Lithium in February launched a scoping study into the Big Sandy project, which has an indicated and inferred Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 32.5-million tonnes, hosting 320 800 t of lithium carbonate.