- Medaro Mining (MEDA) is updating progress on its clean technology aimed at extracting lithium from spodumene
- The Vancouver-based company is part of a joint venture partnership with Global Lithium Extraction Technologies
- The partnership’s technology is a thermochemical solvent extraction technique designed to rapidly manufacture lithium carbonate
- Multiple tests indicated consistent 90 per cent recovery of lithium and 30 per cent of aluminum utilizing separate samples
- Medaro Mining is unchanged, trading at $0.93 at 2:08 pm ET
Medaro Mining (MEDA) is updating progress on its clean technology aimed at extracting lithium from spodumene.
The Vancouver-based company is part of a joint venture partnership with Global Lithium Extraction Technologies.
The partnership’s technology is a thermochemical solvent extraction technique designed to rapidly manufacture lithium carbonate and/or lithium hydroxide from a variety of spodumene.
The technology eliminates use of conventional sulfuric acid leaching and its modular capabilities allow for scalable and remote deployment.
The company has completed the build-out of its laboratory facility in Kingston, Tennessee and immediately set out to confirm key aspects of the process viability. The team has “successfully performed multiple tests at a low processing temperature which validated a critical cost saving capability through lower energy usage.”
Multiple tests indicated consistent 90 per cent recovery of lithium and 30 per cent of aluminum utilizing separate samples.
“The results of our laboratory tests indicate that Li and Al extraction levels close to 100% are both technically and economically feasible. The proven low energy usage, along with the system’s closed-loop chemical recycling of the solvent, combine to greatly lower the overall cost of processing a spodumene concentrate. Optionally, all system operations can be powered entirely by green electricity and the process produces only a trivial amount of environmentally benign solid waste material. At this time, we are projecting that it’s highly likely the technology will lower spodumene processing costs by 30 to 50% or more, which would make the economics of Li recovery from spodumene concentrates much more competitive compared to Li recovery from brines. Plus, most of the chemical steps in our spodumene processing technology seem to be adaptable to extraction of Li from claystones offering broad commercial applicability across the industry,” said joint venture CTO Dr. James G. Blencoe.
Medaro Mining is unchanged, trading at $0.93 at 2:08 pm ET.