Arizona Lithium has noted that Prairie Lithium, which it is in the process of acquiring, has been awarded a $1.2m grant for development of its direct lithium extraction technology.

The grant from the Critical Mineral Research Development and Demonstration (CMRDD) program for Natural Resources in Canada (NRCan) will be matched with funding from Prairie.

Arizona Lithium (ASX:AZL) had in December last year committed to acquiring Prairie, which has Canada’s highest grade lithium brine resources, for $80m in cash and shares.

While the acquisition boosted the company’s global Inferred and Indicated lithium resource by 1,200% to 4.4Mt lithium carbonate equivalent, it will also bring Prairie’s experience in lithium processing and technology and an operating pilot plant of its modular DLE technology.

Prairie president Zach Maurer said the support from NRCan further demonstrates the Canadian government’s commitment to developing key critical mineral projects across the country and allows it to accelerate development of its DLE technology with the goal of advancing to commercial scale lithium production as quickly as possible.

“We are pleased that Prairie has been awarded this grant funding, as we continue to position the Arizona Lithium group as a leader in lithium processing and development in North America,” Arizona Lithium managing director Paul Lloyd said.

“We look forward to using our joint lithium expertise to further advance the DLE technology at both AZL’s Lithium Research Centre in Tempe, Arizona and Prairie’s pilot plant in Emerald Park, Saskatchewan.”

Direct Lithium Extraction technology

Prairie’s proprietary lithium extraction process technology – the Prairie Lithium Ion Exchange (PLIX), is an ion-exchange material that selectively extracts lithium from brine.

This might have global applications with the process currently being tested on lithium resources from other jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, Prairie’s 4.1Mt resource grading 111mg/L is the highest quality inferred lithium brine resource in Canada discovered to date.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Arizona Lithium (ASX:AZL), a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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