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ioneer awards major engineering design and equipment supply contract for the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project to Veolia

Published: 14:31 24 Aug 2021 AEST

ioneer Ltd - Ioneer awards major engineering design and equipment supply contract for the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project to Veolia

ioneer Ltd has awarded a major engineering and equipment supply contract to Veolia Water Technologies Inc for the development of its wholly-owned Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project in Nevada, US. 

This is the single largest supplier package for the Rhyolite Ridge Project and is a major step towards construction and development. 

Veolia has commenced final engineering design work, which includes evaporation, crystallization and dewatering equipment. 

The supply of equipment is conditional on a final investment decision on the Project. 

Largest supply contract

ioneer managing director Bernard Rowe said: “We have been working closely with Veolia over the past three years during the pilot plant and DFS phases and have developed a strong relationship and mutual respect.

“Veolia is a recognized leader in process design and engineering, with direct experience in developing solutions for lithium processing facilities.

“Veolia’s experience and capabilities are important to meet required purity standards in our production facilities.”

Further develop renewable energy

Veolia Water Technologies Americas CEO Jim Brown said: “Veolia, as the leader in ecological transformation, is excited to be part of Ioneer’s commitment to providing the materials necessary to further develop renewable energy and clean technologies by utilizing our industry experience and state-of-the-art research facility to develop this resource.

“Our long-term cooperation working together with ioneer has been instrumental in bringing the project to this point.”

Working together since 2018

The contract has been awarded on a limited notice to proceed basis.

Phase one, the supply of engineering services for detailed design, has commenced while phase two, the supply of equipment, is conditional on a final investment decision on the Project by ioneer’s board of directors.

Veolia and ioneer have been working together since 2018 to demonstrate the feasibility of the process design, including design and operation of ioneer’s full simulation pilot plant in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Veolia has also conducted laboratory testing and simulated key unit operations including clarification, ion exchange purification, evaporation, crystallization, and precipitation at Veolia’s Phillip J. Stewart Technology Center in Plainfield, Illinois, US, including the production of high purity lithium hydroxide monohydrate.

The results obtained from this work further confirmed the design parameters, reduced the technical risks and boosted the project economics.

Rhyolite Ridge Project is the only known lithium-boron deposit in North America and one of only two known such deposits in the world.

The Definitive Feasibility Study, which was completed in 2020 confirmed Rhyolite Ridge as a world-class lithium and boron project that is expected to become a globally significant, long-life, low-cost source of lithium and boron vital to a sustainable future.

Veolia

Veolia is a world leader in the design and delivery of systems for purification, recovery and drying of inorganic chemicals using HPD® evaporation and crystallization technologies.

Furthermore, Veolia provides state-of-the-art research and development capabilities to facilitate the understanding of multi-component systems and their optimization for efficiency, operability and final product quality.

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Ioneer Ltd (ASX:INR, OTC:GSCCF, NASDAQ:IONR) MD Bernard Rowe tells Proactive he’s highly encouraged by the latest leach tests that indicate the Rhyolite Ridge Project has the potential to boost the US domestic supply of lithium, a crucial element for electric vehicle batteries. This comes at a...

on 27/9/23