A recent trip to several Chinese lithium producers has reinforced Lithium Universe’s commitment to building its proposed 16,000 tonnes per annum battery-grade lithium carbonate refinery in Canada.
The trip, undertaken by the company’s key management figures, took in the Jiangsu lithium carbonate refinery that was built by Lithium Universe executives Iggy Tan, Dr Jingyuan Liu and John Loxton during their time with Galaxy Resources.
The Jiangsu operation was the first fully-continuous and semi-autonomous, western-style lithium conversion plant in China. Management says the operation continues to lead the way in refinery design – more than 10 years after its construction.
Lithium Universe plans to replicate the entire Jiangsu lithium carbonate plant refinery at its proposed location at Bécancour in Quebec after securing a site for the plant earlier this year.
The company is seeking to cash in on an expected increase in lithium battery plant activity on the east coast of North America by positioning a lithium carbonate plant near Bécancour. The plant will look to refine spodumene on behalf of the multitude of potential lithium miners that are flooding into the broader region, including those in the revered James Bay area that has thrown up some mega-lithium deposits to date.
Management will focus on lithium carbonate rather than lithium hydroxide due to its widespread use in the fast-growing lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. LFP batteries are increasingly used in electric vehicle (EV) applications due to their lower costs, longer shelf life and superior stability compared with lithium hydroxide.
The company says the Chinese lithium producers it met with were expanding or modifying existing plants to allow the production of battery-grade lithium carbonate as opposed to expansion into lithium hydroxide.
Lithium Universe chairman Iggy Tan said: “The discussions had with various Chinese converters were essential and extremely valuable to the Company’s understanding of the existing global conversion environment. The Company has multiple points of difference that were validated on this excursion, including proven technology, demonstrated development experience, focus on lithium carbonate, and access to convert within the North American battery supply chain.”
In February, the company secured a prime location for the proposed refinery between Quebec City and Montreal at the Bécancour Industrial Waterfront Hub, with heavyweight engineering firm Hatch commissioned to undertake a comprehensive study for the refinery’s design.
The design will include the use of conventional kiln conversion of spodumene, sulphuric acid sulphation and leaching, impurity removal and final purification to battery-grade lithium carbonate. It will be similar to Hatch’s design of Galaxy Resources’ Jiangsu lithium oxide plant.
Tan, Liu and Loxton previously worked with Hatch on the design, construction and commissioning of the Jiangsu plant, which was subsequently sold to China’s Sichuan Tianqi Lithium in 2014 for a cool $132 million.
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By Michael Philipps
