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PROJECT FOCUS
producing lithium chemicals from materials that have traditionally been
roasted, with very high energy costs, to recover the lithium. Independent
laboratory tests of the Sileach process have achieved lithium extractions,
from alpha spodumene, of up to 92% in four hours.
Besides the Pilbara, where LIT is working with and has an MoU with
Venus Metals, the company is active around the world and will likely in the
future produce a range of lithium minerals. This will probably include micas,
clays and low-grade spodumene, which in the past may have been sub
economic. All of these materials can be processed with the Sileach process.
The Electra project (Sonora, Mexico) is a farm in and JV in which LIT can
earn up to 65% of the project from its partner, TSX Venture listed Alix
Resources. The Sileach process, together with other processes will be
tested on this project when materials are available.
Lepidolite Hill (Western Australia) is part of the Coolgardie Rare Metals
Venture (LIT 80% and Focus Minerals 20%) and has been the subject of
intensive metallurgical testing by LIT. The Sileach process is currently being
evaluated on material from this deposit in anticipation of much improved
leach times, potentially providing for reduced plant size and capital costs
for deposits of this type.
Lithium Australia Managing Director, Adrian Griffin: “The Sileach process
is potentially to the lithium industry what froth flotation is to the base metals
industry. In the early 1900s, 3 out of every 4 t of ore unearthed from Broken
Hill went to waste dumps because the lead could not be separated from the
zinc. The massive dumps would have entombed the mines heralding the end
of production, had it not been for the advent of froth flotation.
“Hard-rock lithium faces a similar dilemma with energy intensive
processes dictating what can and can’t be economically processed. Only
high-grade spodumene concentrates are viable under such conditions. The
low-grade materials, be they spodumene or mica, have, in the past, been
destined for the waste dumps. The Sileach process can change that by
producing a cost-effective means of processing lower grade, or hitherto
difficult to treat materials.
“The Sileach process will not only provide a commercial opportunity for
newly mined materials, but will also unlock the value of lithium minerals
discarded in the past.”
Separation Rapids
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16 International Mining | AUGUST 2016
Hard rock deposits such as Avalon's Separation Rapids pegmatite are wellsuited to produce high purity lithium hydroxide at competitive costs.
Avalon’s Separation Rapids project has the potential to produce high
purity lithium compounds for two distinct markets: an industrial mineral
product for glass-ceramics and a lithium chemical for energy storage. It also
has the potential for several byproducts including feldspars, high-purity
silica and tantalum.
Separation Rapids is one of the largest ‘complex-type’ lithium pegmatite
deposits in the world, unusual in its enrichment in the rare lithium mineral
petalite. Currently, there is only one significant petalite producer in the
world, located in Zimbabwe.
Petalite is the preferred lithium mineral feedstock for certain specialty
glass-ceramic products. The most familiar consumer applications, says
Avalon, “are Corningware® cookware and Ceran® stovetops. Petalite is