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Infinity Lithium delivers maiden battery-grade lithium hydroxide during San José test-work

Last updated: 11:26 20 Sep 2021 AEST, First published: 11:22 20 Sep 2021 AEST

Infinity Lithium Corporation Ltd - Infinity Lithium Corporation delivers maiden battery-grade lithium hydroxide during San José test-work

Infinity Lithium Corporation Ltd (ASX:INF, FRA:3PM) has produced battery-grade lithium chemicals during metallurgical test-work on material from the San José Lithium Project in Spain.

By generating chemicals like lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate, Infinity continues to advance its multi-pronged test-work program on San José, which is poised to supply Europe’s battery industry.

The project developer is behind the second-largest JORC-compliant hard rock lithium deposit in the European Union (EU) — the first to secure funding from the EU’s EIT InnoEnergy Fund.

As opportunities for lithium hydroxide and carbonate chemical production continue to grow, Infinity is expanding discussions with existing and potential offtake partners as it advances the San José asset.

Test-work process

As it works to unlock San José’s potential, Infinity kicked things off with a smaller, bench-scale test-work program in a German laboratory.

In parallel, it’s advancing a scaled-up pilot-scale program that’s testing the flow sheet previously defined in the company’s feasibility program.

Both programs fall under a broader test-work campaign over San José, covered under Infinity’s agreement with EIT InnoEnergy. The test-work activity is reportedly progressing on schedule.

During the bench-scale program, Infinity was able to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate and lithium carbonate from San José material.

Specifically, the company has generated lithium hydroxide in an open circuit with only one crystallisation stage, marking a significant milestone in the test-work program.

Thanks to the bench-scale work, product specifications are now available to buoy further offtake discussions, particularly with existing partner LG Energy Solutions of South Korea.

Meanwhile, as part of its pilot-scale test-work program, Infinity has produced all the necessary mineral concentrate during its ore beneficiation stage.

This early stage of the scaled-up program generated around 400 kilograms of flotation concentrate — resource that can now be used across the next chapters of the flowsheet process.

As a result, Infinity has moved to the subsequent sulphation roasting phase, which is slated for completion early next month.

More broadly, ongoing discussions with original equipment manufacturers and strategic partners in Europe have highlighted the strategic benefits of having optionality when it comes to producing battery-grade lithium chemicals.

It comes amid the response to evolving cathode technologies and burgeoning market segment applications for both battery-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate.

Alternative process flowsheet development

As part of the test-work campaign, Infinity’s technical advisory committee (TAC) has reviewed all of the technically feasible extractive technology to ensure the most effective process flowsheet is adopted.

The review compared how flowsheet processes stacked up in terms of performance, operating cost, environmental and social requirements and complexity (thereby impacting its capital cost).

Overall, the review confirmed that typical alternative technologies — including traditional conversion process components like the sulphuric acid leach and carbonate roast — were highly unlikely to match the already adopted process.

Promisingly, however, the TAC’s evaluation did pinpoint two novel and potentially feasible processes that could provide opportunities for significant improvement across all of these parameters.

Although the processes represent a “radical departure” from the sulphation roast process, it opens the door to also convert hard rock lithium resources.

Based on the findings, Infinity has kicked off a preliminary laboratory-scale test-work program to better understand the new processes.

So far, the initial results have been described as encouraging, and these processes could represent a potentially attractive alternative to process lithium-bearing minerals and concentrates.

However, Infinity has clarified work on this avenue won’t come at the expense of the impending feasibility study or delivering the lithium chemicals covered under offtake agreements.

As it develops this step, Infinity is working with intellectual property consultants and preparing provisional patent applications in a bid to protect these processes.

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