Galan Lithium Limited (ASX: GLN) has obtained “exciting” proof of concept test work results for the precipitation of battery grade lithium carbonate product at its flagship Hombre Muerto West (HMW) project located in the South American Lithium Triangle in Catamarca, Argentina.
“Once again, this is a fantastic result and team effort. While this is early days, we are excited to demonstrate this first step as a proof of concept of high purity lithium carbonate while we still have room for improvement >99.88% LCE,” Galan’s Managing Director Juan Pablo (JP) Vargas de la Vega, said
“Importantly, from our studies, Galan’s high grade and low impurities brine has demonstrated that we can produce high purity lithium carbonate at a low cost. The Company continues to add flexibility on the road to production with different added value routes as lithium concentrate and now battery grade lithium carbonate. We keep learning with every test we do and will continue to do so in the future.”
The first laboratory test work for producing lithium carbonate was conducted in Antofagasta under the supervision of specialised consultancy firm, Ad-Infinitum. The test used as a feedstock the high quality brine concentrate with >6% of Li contents obtained through the evaporation test work also undertaken in Antofagasta.
The test procedure and test work activities were developed and supervised by Ad-Infinitum. They initially optimised the concentration stage, producing a purer product thus reducing reagent consumption and opex costs. Importantly at the next stage, further reagent cost reductions were identified, as a cleaner concentrate requires less reagents and volume impurities to be removed for the precipitation of lithium carbonate. As a result, the battery grade was obtained with no requirement to do undertake an additional purification step using dissolution with CO2.
The assay of the lithium carbonate sample was completed at an external laboratory located in Santiago. The delivered result achieved 99.88% of lithium carbonate contents exceeding the minimum quality of 99.5% for battery grade products.
On the back of the developing test procedures, Ad-Infinitum also identified other opportunities for further improving results. These opportunities will be adopted in the future test work activities at both laboratory and pilot plant levels with the possibility to further improve the quality of the battery grade lithium carbonate product.
This proof of concept milestone adds more flexibility to the adoption of a preferable processing design for the HMW Project. The study team is working on different alternatives to optimise the combined outcome for the pond design and lithium carbonate plant design.
For further information please visit: https://galanlithium.com.au/
