PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Lithium Australia is looking for lithium chemical offtake partners as part of its financing package for its A$42-million large-scale lithium processing pilot plant (LSPP).
The LSPP design is based on lithium carbonate production of 2 500 t/y, which is one-tenth the scale of a full-scale production plant.
“Global interest in the pilot plant has been significant. Development has now moved to the product offtake negotiations and structuring finance options, both with a completion objective of early in the new year,” Lithium Australia MD Adrian Griffin said on Friday.
“The commercial opportunity for a new battery-focused lithium technologies and products is now well enunciated and a pilot plant of this large-scale is the prelude to a full-scale production plant.”
The LSPP is currently in the final stages of design optimisation, and a decision to implement the project is slated for early next year.
It is anticipated that the pilot plant will initially produce lithium carbonate as the primary lithium chemical, with a longer-term option of nano-poweders for application in direct production of lithium-ion battery cathodes.