Canadian lithium producer Century Lithium has added a lithium carbonate stage at its Lithium Extraction Facility, a pilot plant in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, which is part of the company’s wholly-owned Angel Island Mine project.

Concentrated lithium solutions from the pilot plant were previously treated by Saltworks at its facility in Richmond, British Columbia, to produce samples of battery-quality lithium carbonate. 

During the first days of the startup, 200 liters of concentrated lithium solution were treated to produce 20 kg of high-grade lithium carbonate. Using its patent-pending process for chloride leaching combined with direct lithium extraction, the company continues to generate data and work to identify further technological breakthroughs to make lithium extraction more cost-effective.

“The ability to make lithium carbonate at our pilot plant is an important step forward,” said Century President and CEO Bill Willoughby. “Domestic production is still key to the security of supply in the US. 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 on-site, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for downstream processing.”

Source: Century Lithium