PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed ioneer has tapped Danish firm FLSmidth as the supplier for engineering and equipment supply for the Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada.
“The contract with FLSmidth is one of the more significant supply packages we will award at Rhyolite Ridge and represents another step in the development of the project,” said ioneer MD Bernard Rowe.
“FLSmidth is focused on providing environmentally sound engineering and technology solutions. This aligns with ioneer’s ambitions to not only produce materials necessary for electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure, but to do so in an efficient and environmentally responsible manner through loweree emissions, significantly reduced water usage and a small surface footprint.”
Under the contract, FLSmidth has started work on product engineering for the equipment packages, which include crushing and materials handling equipment, plus lithium carbonate and boric acid dryers.
The supply of the equipment packages is conditional on a final investment decision on the project.
The Rhyolite Ridge project could produce 20 600 t/y of lithium carbonate, converting in the fourth year of operation to 22 000 t/y of battery grade lithium hydroxide and 174 000 t/y of boric acid, over a mine life of 26 years.
The project is expected to require a capital investment of $785-million, with a final investment decision due late in 2021.