Posted on 18 May 2022
The Australian government is backing a proposed lithium midstream project in Western Australia with an AUD 20 million ($14.04m) grant under the Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI).
The funding announced Tuesday will support potential partners Pilbara Minerals and Calix to develop a demonstration plant for the Mid-Stream Project. The aim is to produce value added lithium salts for global distribution via an innovative midstream refining process.
Under initial plans, this superior lithium raw material will outperform across the key metrics of product cost, quality, carbon energy reduction and waste reduction/handling, Kallanish learns from Pilbara. They intend to use Calix’s calcination technology in an integrated chemical concentration process at Pilbara’s Pilgangoora project to produce lithium phosphate.
The parties are yet to sign a joint venture agreement formalising their plans, already supported by a favourable scoping study. A deal on the JV for the demonstration plant is expected in early Q3, and a final investment decision on the project in late 2022 or early 2023.
Both companies welcomed the public funding and noted the relevance of the project both globally and for Australia’s economy, natural resources and environment. Improved lithium recovery will maximise Australian hard-rock lithium resources as it enables treatment of very fine spodumene concentrates at lower lithia grades, which have been a problem for conventional calcination processes.
Source:Kallanish
