Prairie could be the next cab off the rank to start producing lithium in North America. Pic via Getty Images.
Arizona Lithium could be one of North America’s next lithium producers
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- 2,500L of lithium concentrate produced from Prairie project
- PFS due before the end of the year
- Commercial production pegged for Q1 2025
Special Report: 2,500L of lithium concentrate has been produced from Arizona Lithium’s Prairie pilot plant in Saskatchewan, Canada, and has been shipped to its Lithium Research Centre (LRC) for conversion into battery-grade material.
Ground has also been prepped for the first well pad at Prairie, where Arizona Lithium (ASX:AZL) is accelerating development of the 5.7Mt lithium brine resource into production.
There are only a handful of lithium producers on the whole continent, including Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) and Piedmont Lithium’s hard rock NAL project in Quebec and Albemarle’s Silver Peak brine operations in the US.
AZL, which also owns the Big Sandy project in Arizona, believes it could be one of the next producers off the rank to feed North America’s growing hunger for lithium.
Pilot plant production
Commissioned earlier this month, the company has already processed over 42,000L of raw brine from its well to date, resulting in the production of ~2,500L of lithium concentrate which you can see a snazzy video of here.
The first two shipments have been sent to the LRC in Tempe, Arizona, for further upgrading to high-purity lithium end products targeted to the battery market.
AZL CTO Brett Rabe says the pilot plant testing campaign is the final step before purchasing long-lead items for the inaugural well pads.
“We are executing our project development plan quickly and efficiently with the commencement of well pad civil works, well license approval and completion of the PFS taking place before the end of 2023,” Rabe says.
“Saskatchewan is truly an outstanding jurisdiction for lithium project development and we are excited to share pilot plant DLE performance details in the coming weeks.
“We also look forward to updating the market with our project execution plan for what may be the first new producing lithium project in North America in a very long time.”
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.
