The pilot plant also rejected >99% of impurities. Pic via Getty Images.
Arizona Lithium achieves impressive steady-state 95pc recovery rates from Prairie pilot plant
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- >200,000L of brine for >13,500L lithium concentrate produced at Arizona Lithium’s Prairie project pilot plant
- A steady 95% lithium recovery rate achieved
- Impurity rejection of 99.99% sodium and 99.98% calcium
- Data to be used to design and build full scale plant
- Drilling of Pad #1 at Prairie to commence next month
Special Report: Steady lithium recovery rates averaging 95% were achieved from four months of processing brine from Arizona Lithium’s Prairie project with data to be used for designing the company’s commercial direct lithium extraction (DLE) facility.
Arizona Lithium’s (ASX:AZL) Prairie lithium-brine project in Saskatchewan, Canada, contains a 6.3Mt lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) resource, including 4.5Mt LCE in the higher confidence indicated category.
The project has attractive economics, with low operating costs due to its access to key infrastructure including roads, gas, water, and electricity.
Prairie is quite advanced, having completed a pre-feasibility study that estimates operating costs of US2,819/t for Phase 1 production of 6,000tpa LCE. AZL plans to receive first revenues from the project next year.
Pilot plant success
From November 2023 to February this year the ILiad pilot plant processed over 200,000L of brine to produce over 13,500L of lithium concentrate from Prairie, while showing exceptional lithium recovery and impurity rejection results during operations.
A steady-state phase was achieved with an average lithium recovery rate of 95%, as well as an average impurity rejection of 99.99% for sodium and 99.98% for calcium.
AZL says it’s a significant positive result for the planned operating expenses due to the reduction in the required downstream processing to create lithium carbonate.
The lithium concentrate has now been shipped to AZL’s Lithium Research Centre (LRC) in Arizona to be further processed using Counter Flow Reverse Osmosis (CFRO).
Data from the pilot plant tests is currently being pulled to be used in the design and engineering of the company’s DLE facility to be constructed on Pad #1.
AZL MD Paul Lloyd says these exceptional final results from the pilot plant are a testament to the dedication of the team in taking the project a step closer to commercial production, pegged for 2025.
“These results are already being used to finalise the engineering and design of our first commercial facility at Pad #1,” Lloyd says.
“They give the technical and management teams added confidence that Prairie is a world-class lithium project and has the potential for significant project economics.”
Drilling on Pad #1 is to commence next month.
This article was developed in collaboration with Arizona Lithium, 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.
