International Battery Metals leases lithium filtration plant for US production

International Battery Metals

11/01/2024 23:00

By Ernest Scheyder
       Jan 11 (Reuters) - International Battery Metals
 IBAT.CD  on Thursday said it   leased its portable direct
lithium extraction (DLE) plant to a customer that aims to begin
producing the metal needed for electric vehicle batteries inside
the United States within six months.
    The move would make IBAT the first company to commercially
produce lithium with a DLE technology, a major step forward amid
ongoing efforts to revolutionize the way the ultralight metal 
is processed for the clean energy transition. Lithium is
typically produced using large, water-intensive evaporation
ponds or open-pit mines.
    While DLE technologies vary, they are comparable to common
household water softeners and aim to extract about 90% or more
of the lithium from brines, compared to about 50% using ponds.
No DLE technology has yet reached commercial production without
the use of those ponds, sparking competition to be first.
    The once-niche DLE sector gained global attention last year,
when Chilean President Gabriel Boric outlined a radical plan to
phase out evaporation ponds and deploy DLE across his country's
vast lithium reserves.
    Albemarle  ALB.N , Exxon Mobil  XOM.N , General Motors
 GM.N , Rio Tinto  RIO.AX  and others have made their own DLE
bets, though none have yet launched.
    Founded by John Burba, who helped invent an early version of
DLE in the 1970s, IBAT's DLE facility is designed to be portable
after it filters lithium using an adsorption material from a
brine formation, thus saving construction costs.
    The IBAT plant is less than three acres (1.2 hectares) in
size, compared to hundreds of acres needed for evaporation ponds
or open-pit mines.
    IBAT declined to disclose who leased its DLE plant, but said
its customer is a "significant producer of metals and minerals,"
including lithium, in the western United States. 
    The company plans to ship its DLE plant in the near future
and start commissioning at its customer's site.
    The plant is expected to produce 4,000 metric tons of
lithium initially when online within six months and eventually
grow to 8,000 metric tons, more than any existing U.S. lithium
project, IBAT said.
    IBAT said it will receive royalties on the lithium produced
by its DLE facility and that its customer has the right to
eventually purchase it, but that it will retain all technology
rights.
    The facility will be able to recycle more than 98% of the
water it uses, the company said. Burba has repeatedly flagged
the lithium industry's high water use as a structural impediment
to full commercialization. 
    "We are very excited for this opportunity to reach full
commercialization," he said in a statement.


 (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder
Editing by Bill Berkrot)
 ((ernest.scheyder@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @ErnestScheyder;
+1-713-210-8512; Reuters Messaging:
ernest.scheyder.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))