Americas lithium developers charging ahead

ioneer aims to be able to start construction of its Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada, US early next year as it nears the end of the NEPA permitting process, chair James Calaway told delegates at the conference.He said the engineering is 70% complete, with a 24-month construction period anticipated for the operation, which will produce 20,000tpa of lithium and 175,000tpa of boron for over 25 years."We have binding offtake agreements to Ford for 7,000tpa, 4000tpa to Toyota and Panasonic, and 7000tpa to South Korea's cathode maker EcoPro," Calaway said.In January, the US Department of Energy (DOE) made a conditional commitment to loan up to US$700million to ioneer, to develop its project. The DOE loan, coupled with Sibanye-Stillwater's expected $490 million equity contribution to secure a 50% interest in the project, is expected to fund a substantial part of the $785 million estimated initial capital expenditure. The DOE loan has a 10-year term at applicable US Treasury rates.Calaway criticised what he called a "small group of very aggressive and unscrupulous environmental activists that go after you for whatever they can" as a challenge to deal with during permitting.The boric acid production is expected to make Rhyolite Ridge one of lowest-cost lithium producers in the world. "We will have a similar [boric acid] production scale to Rio Tinto. It will cover 70% of operating costs and provide 30-35% of revenue," said Calaway.Rhyolite Ridge hosts 360Mt of resources containing 3.4Mt of lithium carbonate equivalent and 14.1Mt of boric acid.Compass MineralsCompass Minerals aims to scale up its direct lithium extraction (DLE) unit to bring online in 2025 at its Ogden operations on the Great Salt Lake in Utah, USA said VP of lithium operations, Jordan Taylor."We have 50 years of experience on the lake with sodium, potassium and magnesium already extracted. Lithium is a co-product, and we will use hot water as the stripping agent rather than acids and bases," said Taylor.Odgen lithium project on Great Salt Lake, Utah started the lithium project in 2018. Tested DLE technologies. LG and Ford offtake agreements, 8% of plant capacity, Kock Minerals 2022 strategic investment.The company plans to start production from Ogden Lithium at 11,000tpa of lithium carbonate to be later followed by 24,000tpa LCE from a hydroxide plant at Lakeside Lithium to the west as an expansion. "Carbonate is less capital intensive, but we will have the flexibility to later go to hydroxide," said Taylor.DLERobert Mintak, chief executive of Standard Lithium, said the company has one of the most advanced DLE plans with a demonstration plant operating for the last three years in Arkansas, US and a feasibility study coming in the next few weeks.The company aims to produce 50,000tpa of lithium carbonate and hydroxide. A final investment decision is expected in the December quarter, with the company aiming for construction early next year. "We will produce at a scale of 60 times from that of the demonstration plant, 6000t of production from an existing well, so there is no permitting required," said Mintak.In May, Standard Lithium signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with Koch Engineered Solutions to jointly develop and commercialise integrated lithium brine processing flowsheets for Standard Lithium's exclusive use in the Smackover Formation.Clayton Valley consortiumSteve Hanson chief executive of ACME Lithium said he expects a consortium to eventually form to build a DLE plant to service several companies in Nevada's Clayton Valley. "Ultimately, we will see a large DLE plant in the valley, shared by several producers," he said.Hanson identified water rights as an issue that needs resolution as several companies seek to produce lithium in the valley. Albemarle and its Silver Peak operation hold the majority of water rights. "Albemarle has large water rights in the valley. There should be others in the valley able to use that permit as it is under-utilised to some degree. The best scenario for the valley is a consortium working together for DLE," he said.Latin AmericaCristobal Garcia-Huidobro, chief executive Lithium Power International (LPI) said the fragmented ownership of the Maricunga salar in Chile means new regulations are needed before DLE can be deployed there. "Reinjection needs to be resolved before the use of DLE as reinjection of the spent brine also includes water which affects the water balance of your neighbours. This needs regulations," he said.Garcia-Huidobro said recent moves by the Chilean government regarding state participation in the lithium sector do not change its existing permits or legal situation but will mean the company will eventually have to work with state copper company Codelco, which also has concessions in the Maricunga. "Codelco owns one of the permits in the Maricunga, and we will eventually work with them. Our concessions are assets, and we will have to work with Codelco for our expansion," he said.LPI plans to produce 15,200tpa of lithium carbonate in the first phase, with its plan fully permitted and with construction due to start before year-end.Minas GeraisIn Brazil, Minas Gerais state aims to be a centre of battery minerals production following the start of operations of Sigma Lithium, which will help advance Latin Minerals' Salinas project, said MD Chris Gale. Standard plans an open pit project to produce a 6.6% Li2O concentrate. "The consultants that worked on Sigma Lithium are now working on this. This is a priority project for the Minas Gerais government," said Gale.Salinas has a resource of 45.2Mt grading 1.34% Li2O, and with eight drill rigs and a 65,000m programme for 2023 to add to the 135 holes for 39,000m completed so far, Gale expects the deposit to continue growing. "We want to become a tier one lithium deposit," he said.A preliminary economic assessment on Salinas is due in the September quarter with a feasibility study to follow. "We want the project approved by the end 2024 and in construction in early 2025 for production in 2026. We have 20 people on our offtake list, but have no agreements yet. Once we have the PEA and understand the project, we will run a process for the offtake. We are fully funded for the feasibility and we don't see any issue raising capital. We just need to know what the capex looks like from the PEA," said Gale.

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