Alberta lithium developer and extraction technology innovator E3 Lithium on Wednesday announced that it had successfully produced lithium carbonate – the last major step in a conventional process before conversion to battery-quality lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM).
The test work used concentrate generated from brines located in E3’s Clearwater project area, produced during the direct lithium extraction (DLE) testing completed in preparation for the pilot plant.
E3 Lithium has engaged a major lithium refining technology and equipment vendor to develop the downstream lithium production processes in preparation for the upcoming prefeasibility study. The testing was conducted to treat a sample of concentrate, or eluate, produced by DLE technology.
The test programme has successfully progressed through the coarse purification and concentration phases, and the eluate has been converted into lithium carbonate. The final steps include further downstream polishing to achieve the desired purity and then conversion of the carbonate into battery-grade LHM.
As the pilot plant produces more concentrate, E3 will be creating more carbonate and LHM for commercial development purposes.
“Producing high-quality carbonate from our Leduc brines with a major equipment vendor is an incredibly exciting milestone for the company,“ said E3 president and CEO Chris Doornbos.
“While downstream lithium refining processes are already commercially operating, demonstrating the success of these processes on E3’s brine provides more certainty for our commercial processes.”
The objectives of the test programme are to validate the downstream flowsheet, generate data required for engineering design purposes and produce LHM for potential offtake partners.