REG - CleanTech Lithium - Downstream Process Produces Lithium Carbonate

Cleantech LithiumAnnouncement

14/01/2025 08:15

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RNS Number : 2362T  CleanTech Lithium PLC  14 January 2025

14 January 2025

CleanTech Lithium PLC ("CTL", CleanTech Lithium" or the "Company")

Pilot Plant Downstream Process Produces Lithium Carbonate with 99.78% Purity

 

CleanTech Lithium PLC (AIM: CTL, Frankfurt: T2N), an exploration and
development company advancing sustainable lithium projects in Chile, further
to "Pilot-Scale Lithium Carbonate Production" RNS on 21 November 2024,
announces the production of a high purity lithium carbonate sample from the
Company´s pilot plant downstream process.

The Company has also made the decision to voluntarily delist from the OTCQX
market in the U.S. The Board did not see the value from low trading volumes
and the associated administration costs. The Company's Ordinary Shares
continue to trade on the London AIM Market, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and
the U.S. OTC Pink Market.

Highlights:

·    The Company is processing concentrated eluate from its DLE pilot
plant in Copiapó, Chile at the facilities of Conductive Energy ("Conductive")
in Chicago, USA with the aim of producing battery grade lithium carbonate.

·    The downstream process design aims to minimise process steps and
demonstrate a process that is scalable and can consistently produce a
battery-grade lithium carbonate product. Key stages are:

§ Eluate concentration using Forward Osmosis ("iFO") to produce a highly
concentrated pre-carbonation solution with low energy input

§ Treatment of the pre-carbonation solution to remove contaminants

§ Carbonation to technical-grade lithium carbonate

§ Post-carbonation polishing to achieve battery-grade lithium carbonate

·    A substantial volume of pre-carbonation solution and lithium
carbonate was produced as reported to the market on 21 November 2024.

·    Due to the onset of freezing weather in Chicago from late November,
steps were taken to mitigate damage to sensitive iFO processing equipment and
iFO concentration was paused.

·    Further downstream processing continued using the already produced
pre-carbonation solution to refine and analyse the downstream process and
lithium carbonate product.

·    A test run volume of pre-carbonation solution was processed in
December into an 8kg sample of high grade lithium carbonate which a laboratory
at the University of Calgary has recently confirmed achieved 99.78% purity.

·    This exceeds the 99.6% purity standard (Chinese GB/T 23853-2022 (Type
1) for battery grade lithium carbonate from brine. However, certain individual
impurity concentrations were higher than the standard.

·    The treatment process was shown to be effective at removing
contaminants, resulting in high-quality feed to the carbonation stage.

·    The most problematic contaminants in the pre-carbonation solution,
Calcium, Magnesium and Boron, were reduced by 98.5%, 99.9% and to
non-detection (>99.99%) respectively.

·    Conductive Energy is is currently assessing best options to restart
iFO operations that are paused due to winter conditions.

·    Conductive is utilising the current pause to upgrade the system based
on initial data as well as add an nanofiltration step to remove divalent ions
(Calcium, Magnesium) before the ion exchange steps which will improve
purification efficiency further whilst improvements in automation and process
control will be made.

Steve Kesler, Executive Chairman, CleanTech Lithium said: "We are pleased to
report the production of high grade lithium carbonate with a purity of 99.78%
from an initial batch of concentrated eluate from our Laguna Verde project.
This phase of work has focused on fine-tuning the process and preparing to
scale up pilot plant output.  Our collaborative efforts with Conductive
Energy and Forward Water on the downstream process are advancing our aim to
produce signifigant quantities of battery grade product to introduce to
potential strategic partners and off-takers."

 Images 1-2: High purity lithium carbonate falling from filter plate and final
 product. Low adhesion and moisture content is an indicator of high product
 purity & exceptional crystal structure

 

Further Details:

In 2H 2024, a total of 88m(3) of concentrated eluate produced at the
Company´s DLE pilot plant located in Copiapó, Chile, was shipped to the
facilities of Conductive Energy in Chicago, USA, for conversion into lithium
carbonate. Processing commenced in November 2024 and a total of 27.5m(3) of
concentrated eluate was processed through the iFO stage which reduced the
volume to 5.3m(3) of pre-carbonation solution with lithium concentrations up
to 14,400mg/l. The iFO unit is a mobile demonstration scale unit with a feed
flow rate of 800 - 1,000L per hour and is an outdoor installation and
therefore susceptible to weather conditions. A portion of the solution was
processed into approximately 50kg of lithium carbonate as announced to the
market on 21 November 2024.

 

Image 3: The iFO unit installed at the Conductive Energy site in Chicago, USA

Despite challenging weather conditions in late November, with temperatures in
Chicago dropping below zero degrees Celsius, process evaluation continued with
the aim of achieving iterative improvements in yield at lower energy and
reagent inputs, which helps assess scalability and operating costs.

Adverse weather did pose risks to sensitive process equipment, such as the
membrane modules of the iFO unit and further iFO concentration was paused.
Under commercial-scale operations, such systems would be housed within
temperature-controlled facilities to mitigate these challenges.

Production of High Purity Product

Downstream processing continued using iFO concentrate already produced to run
the final purification, carbonation and polishing stages and produce a test
quantity of high grade lithium carbonate.  The solution produced by the iFO
unit was 14,350mg/l Li, a 6.5X increase in concentration of the concentrated
eluate. This was achieved without optimisation and in sub-optimal weather
conditions.  Optimization is expected to achieve a minimum 10X increase in
concentration at this stage. Further stages of contaminant removal,
carbonation and polishing achieved a high grade lithium carbonate product with
a purity of 99.78% Li2CO3

 

 
                  Feed Brine  Concentrated Eluate  Post iFO Solution  Lithium Carbonate
 Grade (mg/L Li)  180         2,210                14,350             99.78%

Table 1: Lithium grade in key stages from feed brine to final product

Treatment to Remove Impurities

The purification stage consists of 3 process units - microfiltration, divalent
ion exchange and boron ion exchange. These were shown to greatly reduce the
concentrated contaminants in the pre-carbonation solution resulting in a
high-quality feed to the carbonation process. The most problematic
contaminants in the pre-carbonation solution, Calcium, Magnesium and Boron
were reduced by 98.5%, 99.9% and to non-detection (>99.99%), respectively.
Table 2 shows the major ions in each process stage. Upgrades to the system,
including the addition of a nanofiltration step is being implemented to more
efficiently remove divalent ions which were at a higher concentration in the
concentrated eluate received (although within Lanshen design specification)
than the Conductive pilot plant was set up for.

 

 Element  Concentrated Eluate (mg/L)  iFO      Microfiltration  Ion Exchange  Boron Ion Exchange (mg/L)

 (mg/L)                               (mg/L)   (mg/L)           (mg/L)

 B        506                         1,655    1,480            1,230         ND
 Ca       48.2                        346      319              5             5
 K        21.8                        129      132              114           70
 Mg       49.7                        357      318              1.7           0.4
 Na       428                         2,685    4,140            7,870         5,115
 S        19.3                        136      132              117           78

Table 2: Major impurities following each stage of pre-treatment

Carbonation Stage

Carbonation proceeded as designed, with initial technical grade material
produced from the feed in under 15 minutes of reactor time. The technical
grade product was subsequently polished in a single wash step to produce a
high-purity lithium carbonate product. Table 2 presents all the detected
elements by ICP, undertaken by a laboratory at the University of Calgary, as a
percent weight of the total dry product (100% dry mass). Moisture in the
product prior to kiln drying was low at 28% wt. The final product achieved
99.78% lithium carbonate purity on a fully dry basis (Table 3).

Image 4: Filter press used in the conversion process to produce lithium
carbonate

A comparison to Chinese standard GB/T 23853-2022 (Type 1) for battery grade
lithium carbonate is shown in Table 3. Potassium, sodium and chloride will be
reduced through changes in carbonation reactor operation such that
post-carbonation washing is more effective. The divalent ions, calcium and
magnesium, will be reduced following introduction of the nanofiltration step.

 

 Product    CTL T1 Product(2)  GB/T 23853-2022
 Li2CO3     99.78%             99.60%
 Na         0.050%             0.030%
 K          0.014%             0.002%
 Ca         0.022%             0.005%
 Mg         0.015%             0.005%
 SO4        0.016%             0.01%
 Cl         0.044%             0.02%
 B          0.001%             0.005%
 Fe         nd (0.0005%)       0.001%
 Cu         nd (0.0005%)       0.005%
 Pb         nd (0.0005%)       ( )
 Al         0.001%
 Zn         nd (0.0005%)
 Si         0.006%             0.002%
 Mn         0.0003%            0.001%
 H2O        0.2%               0.4%
 Insoluble  nd (0.01)          0.005%

Table 3:                Weight (%) of elements in the final
product after drying

 

Next Steps

Downstream processing is scheduled to resume in February 2025, with the rest
of the 88m³ volume of concentrated eluate anticipated to be processed between
February and April 2025.

Conductive Energy is utilising the the iFO operations pause to implement
several improvements to the system will be implemented primarily in automation
and process control and debottlenecking for continuous operation and addition
of a nanofiltration stage. The planned schedule is:

·    Early January - early February 2025: facility recommissioning and
recommence processing

·    Mid-February - plan additional tours with third parties for offtake
purposes

·    Mid-February - early April, completion of CleanTech Lithium's
concentrated eluate processing and conversion to battery grade lithium
carbonate to produce larger quantities for start of product qualification by
potential strategic partners and off-takers.

 

Competent Persons Statement

 

The following professional acts as qualified person, as defined in the AIM
Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies (June 2009) and JORC Code (2012):

 

The technical information contained within this announcement has been reviewed
and approved by Dr Steve Kesler, a Director of the Company. Dr Kesler is a
Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a Chartered
Engineer with over 40 years' experience in the mining and resource development
industry. Dr Kesle holds a degree in Mining Engineering and Ph.D in Mineral
Technology both from Imperial College, London Dr Kesler and has sufficient
experience, as to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 edition
of the "Australian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore reserves"
and for the purposes of the AIM Guidance Note on Mining and Oil & Gas
Companies dated June 2009. Dr Kesler consents to the inclusion in this
announcement of the matters based on information in the form and context in
which it appears. The Company is reporting progress on project development and
metallurgical results under the 2012 edition of the Australasian Code for the
Reporting of Results, Minerals Resources and Ore reserves (JORC code 2012).

 

The information communicated within this announcement is deemed to constitute
inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No
596/2014 which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal)
Act 2018. Upon publication of this announcement, this inside information is
now considered to be in the public domain. The person who arranged for the
release of this announcement on behalf of the Company was Gordon Stein,
Director and CFO.

 

 For further information contact:
 CleanTech Lithium PLC
 Steve Kesler/Gordon Stein/Nick Baxter          Jersey office: +44 (0) 1534 668 321

                                                Chile office: +562-32239222
                                                Or via Celicourt
 Celicourt Communications                       +44 (0) 20 7770 6424

 Felicity Winkles/Philip Dennis/Ali AlQahtani   cleantech@celicourt.uk (mailto:cleantech@celicourt.uk)
 Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nominated Adviser)   +44 (0) 20 7628 3396

 Roland Cornish/Asia Szusciak
 Fox-Davies Capital Limited (Joint Broker)      +44 (0) 20 3884 8450

 Daniel Fox-Davies                              daniel@fox-davies.com (mailto:daniel@fox-davies.com)
 Canaccord Genuity (Joint Broker)               +44 (0) 20 7523 4680

 James Asensio

 

Beaumont Cornish Limited ("Beaumont Cornish") is the Company's Nominated
Adviser and is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Beaumont Cornish's
responsibilities as the Company's Nominated Adviser, including a
responsibility to advise and guide the Company on its responsibilities under
the AIM Rules for Companies and AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers, are owed
solely to the London Stock Exchange. Beaumont Cornish is not acting for and
will not be responsible to any other persons for providing protections
afforded to customers of Beaumont Cornish nor for advising them in relation to
the proposed arrangements described in this announcement or any matter
referred to in it.

Notes

CleanTech Lithium (AIM:CTL, Frankfurt:T2N, OTCQX:CTLHF) is an exploration and
development company advancing lithium projects in Chile for the clean energy
transition. Committed to net-zero, CleanTech Lithium's mission is to become a
new supplier of battery grade lithium using Direct Lithium Extraction
technology powered by renewable energy.

CleanTech Lithium has two key lithium projects in Chile, Laguna Verde and
Viento Andino, and exploration stage projects in Llamara and Arenas Blancas
(Salar de Atacama), located in the lithium triangle, a leading centre for
battery grade lithium production. The two most advanced projects: Laguna Verde
and Viento Andino are situated within basins controlled by the Company,
which affords significant potential development and operational advantages.
All four projects have good access to existing infrastructure.

CleanTech Lithium is committed to utilising Direct Lithium Extraction with
reinjection of spent brine resulting in no aquifer depletion. Direct Lithium
Extraction is a transformative technology which removes lithium from brine
with higher recoveries, short development lead times and no extensive
evaporation pond construction. www.ctlithium.com (http://www.ctlithium.com/)

 

**ENDS**

 

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