Neometals enters strategic lithium processing agreement

Neometals’ 70 per cent owned subsidiary company, Reed Advanced Materials has entered a co-operation agreement with Portugal’s largest chemical producer, Bondalti Chemicals seeking to commercialise Reed’s “ELi” processing technology for sustainable production of battery quality lithium hydroxide and carbonate. The collaborators aim to construct a pilot plant ahead of a proposed 25,000 tonne per annum industrial scale lithium refinery in Portugal.

Under the agreement, Reed and Bondalti will evenly split US$4 million to construct and operate the pilot plant. The duo will also run evaluation studies for the proposed refinery over an 18-month period, including front end engineering and design studies.

Neometals says the pilot plant and proposed commercial refinery will be integrated with Bondalti’s existing chlor-alkali operations that share processing similarities with Reed’s ELi process.

Reed has developed ELi from concept through to a semi-pilot scale testing stage over an eight-year timeframe. Through the process, it aims to create a competitive means of producing lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide on a commercial scale.

ELi is designed to produce lithium chemicals by replacing conventional and carbon-intensive chemical conversion of lithium chloride solutions with electrolysis. It uses commercially available chlor-alkali equipment and the process has previously been tested for reliability in 100 hour and 200 hour mini-pilot scale trials.

Reed’s proposed refinery in the town of Estarreja could become the first commercial-scale operation utilising ELi to enable an ethical supply of lithium chemicals for Europe’s burgeoning electric vehicle battery industry.

Neometals says ELi could potentially slash capital and operational costs for both spodumene and brine lithium projects by “radically” reducing the need for reagents and their transport. It could also reduce the environmental impact of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide production, the company says.

Sourcing lithium chemicals with a reduced carbon footprint is a high priority for the electric vehicle industry and ELi could potentially boost efforts to decarbonise the lithium-ion battery supply chain, according to the company.

Management says the flexibility of sourcing feedstock for its ELi process could allow for European production of lithium chemicals from both locally sourced hard rock lithium operations and imported lithium brine concentrates.

Neometals Managing Director, Chris Reed said:“We are eager to take another step towards commercialising our ELi® process and building a globally competitive, high purity ‘battery quality’ lithium chemical facility. Bondalti is a highly credentialed chemical producer and operator of chlor-alkali facilities which use electrolysis to produce sodium hydroxide. Moreover, Bondalti’s existing by-product hydrogen and chlorine gases provide a ready market for the by-products of the ELi® Process.”

“The synergies of first-class technical skills and infrastructure at Estarreja maximise the probability of technical success in the full-scale pilot plant trials and enhance the potential financial metrics of its first commercial application.”

A recent report by leading international provider of business research, BloombergNEF determined that globally, some 58 per cent of all new manufactured vehicles by 2040 are projected to be either electric or hybrid.

In Germany alone, electric vehicles are forecast to make up nearly 40 per cent of total sales by 2025, the report concluded.

As electric vehicle uptake around the world continues to accelerate, sourcing lithium chemicals for production of lithium-ion batteries is becoming paramount for manufacturers. If Neometals’ commercialisation push of its ELi processing technology delivers the goods, the Perth-based company could emerge as a key player in the mammoth automotive industry of Europe.

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