Keliber, a Finnish mining and battery chemical company, has completed a pilot-scale test to verify the behavior of its ore at all stages of the lithium hydroxide production process.

In a 400-hour long pilot-trial, ore from the company’s Rapasaari deposit in Finland was used to make lithium hydroxide at Metso Outotec’s demonstration plant in Pori, Finland. Keliber says the trial yielded a total lithium recovery rate over 88%—which is higher than the company’s published estimate in its Definite Feasibility Study of March 2022.

“A similar pilot-scale test program has previously been carried out using ore from Syväjärvi [in Finland], the mine where quarrying will start first,” says the company.

“We have now verified that we can produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide from not only the Syväjärvi ore but also by using ore from our largest deposit in Rapasaari,” says Site Manager of Keliber’s Lithium Chemical Plant Sami Heikkinen.

Source: Keliber