Century President and CEO Bill Willoughby (left) discusses samples with Daniel Kalmbach,
manager, geology and technical services. (Photo: Century Lithium)

During the first days of startup of the lithium-carbonate stage, Century’s team at the pilot plant successfully treated 200 liters of concentrated lithium solution and produced 20 kg of high-grade lithium carbonate onsite.

“The ability to make lithium carbonate at our pilot plant is an important step forward,” said Bill Willoughby, president and CEO, Century Lithium. “Despite the downturn in lithium prices, domestic production is still key to the security of supply in the U.S. While it is becoming well known that a vast amount of lithium is contained within the claystone deposits of Nevada, the benefit in unlocking these resources is the ability to produce a battery-quality lithium product onsite and thereby reducing or eliminating the need for downstream processing.”

Work continues at the pilot plant using the company’s patent-pending process for chloride leaching combined with direct lithium extraction (DLE) to generate data. The plant works to identify further technological breakthroughs to make the extraction of lithium from clay more economic. Adding the lithium carbonate stage not only demonstrates that battery-quality lithium carbonate can be made, but it helps to better understand and minimize the recycle streams from the DLE stage through to final product in the process.

With the assistance of engineers from Hargrove Engineers and Constructors, Century’s team configured equipment to run 40-liter batches of concentrated lithium solution though precipitation, washing and drying steps. Final assays on the lithium carbonate are pending.