Lithium mine developer British Lithium has reported the production of its first lithium carbonate from the mica in granite at its new pilot plant near Roche, Cornwall, following the seven-month design and build of the facility.
The company announced it would manufacture a small quantity of 5kg/day of lithium carbonate from early 2022, enough for data to show some commercial value to customers.
It said it was the first time lithium had been produced commercially from mica. It noted that its pilot plant used its patented Li-Sep technology for extracting battery-grade lithium from micaceous granite in a sustainable production process, allowing chemical-free and low-energy production.
“New processes are usually piloted in the definitive feasibility stage, but as lithium has never been commercially produced from mica before, de-risking our proprietary technology is a critical stage in moving our project forward,” said British Lithium CEO Andrew Smith.
And it had been a stage of the project where the company could execute itself “in real-world conditions using on-site water and commercial reagents sourced locally,” he added.
“There’s a long way to go in refining and refining the process,” Smith said.
British Lithium intends to start to construct a commercial plant as soon as the process reaches commercial maturity, with Chairman Roderick Smith having previously said that the company was working towards producing 21,000 mt/year of battery-grade lithium carbonate once it can pass through the ramp-up period expected within two or three years.
S&P Global Platts assessed seaborne lithium carbonate prices have surged 440% on the year to close at $34,300/mt CIF North Asia Jan. 5.
“Right now, we will be globally the only lithium producer that will be quarrying and refining on one site, and that from a sustainability perspective is good for the project,” Smith said.
Partially funded by Innovate UK, the pilot plant encompasses all process stages from quarrying through to the production of high purity lithium carbonate — a total of four process steps, including electric low temperature calcination, acid-free leaching and multiple purification steps, including ion-exchange.
British Lithium also received a GBP500,000 ($655,635 at that time) Innovate UK Smart Grant from the UK government in August 2020 for the development of its lithium mine project in the St. Austell area of Cornwall, where it has identified an ore resource of over 100 million mt in a former china clay mine.
In March 2021, secured more than GBP2.9 million in funding from the government's Sustainable Innovation Fund to construct the pilot plant for its Li-Sep technology to extract battery-grade lithium from micaceous granite.
It is one of only two lithium mine projects (there are no mines in the U.K.). The other, Cornish Lithium, is aiming to produce at least 10,000 mt/year of lithium carbonate equivalent within three to five years of starting production.
