Arizona Lithium teams up with Cemvita for bioextraction at Big Sandy

Arizona Lithium has signed a strategic partnership with US environmental biotech company Cemvita to develop commercial-scale applications for the bioextraction of lithium from sedimentary ore.

Cemvita aims to revolutionize the mining industry by lowering the carbon footprint using industrial biotechnology, working with companies to optimise existing bioprocesses and develop new methods in mineral processing and extractive metallurgy, to lower the energy and carbon intensity of the mining industry and enable extraction of the minerals required for a renewable energy future.

Processes that can be enhanced by the latest industrial biotech apply across the entire mining supply chain including mining and mineral pre-processing, in-situ recovery, leaching, beneficiation, remediation, and recycling.

The plan is to pilot Cemvita’s portable organic lixiviant production plant on Big Sandy sedimentary ore at Arizona Lithium’s (ASX:AZL) newly established Lithium Research Centre.

Sustainably developing Big Sandy

Recently, AZL announced the completion of the Scoping Study which has confirmed Big Sandy as being well positioned to become a long-term lithium producer to supply the rapidly growing demand for electric vehicles in North America.

And the company is focused on making the project a global model for responsible and sustainable lithium project development.

“We are focused on our responsibility to our shareholders and to the environment and believe that both of these stakeholders will greatly benefit from the successful implementation of Cemvita’s technology,” MD Paul Lloyd says.

“We aim to be a model for sustainable development and be the pioneer for Lithium producers to use technology like Cemvita’s.

“We are excited to see the initial results of the partnership in the next 3-6 months, at which time we will assess further partnership potential.”

Cemvita’s tech could optimise leaching

Notably, a key cost centre identified for evaluation and optimisation in the scoping study was leaching – where successful application of Cemvita’s technology could improve selectivity for leaching lithium from sedimentary ore over traditional non-selective inorganic acids and lixiviants.

The company says the plan now is to pilot the technology, and fast track the development of the Big Sandy Project, with further processing and extraction test work to be undertaken at the Lithium Research Centre.

The Centre will essentially function as a technology incubator focused on the extraction of lithium from a variety of ores and brines, as well as the production of battery-grade lithium chemicals for current and future battery technologies.

This article was developed in collaboration with Arizona Lithium Limited (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.