Voltaic Minerals Corp reports that Lithium Selective Technologies (LiST) has provided an interim update from its process facility in Northern California. The company had engaged LiST on an interim basis to continue its development of a lithium extraction process for non-conventional brines.
LiST has completed preliminary testing using its hybrid technology for the recovery of lithium from natural brines and confirms it has produced solutions with significant enhancement of lithium concentration and lithium/calcium ratios in its initial screening tests. William Bourcier of LiST comments, “We are very pleased that our initial process results confirmed our ability to enhance lithium concentration of non-conventional brine. We are extremely optimistic that increased selectivity performance and concentration enhancement can be expected as optimization testing proceeds.” In addition, LiST intends to have its data analysed by a third party laboratory for independent verification.
The stated objective of LiST is to develop a process for Voltaic that would put it into the lowest quartile of lithium production costs from natural brines in the USA. Tom Currin, Voltaic Project Manager states, “If successful, this process could create value from known resources in the US and globally. The company is incorporating selective techniques, used commercially in mineral extraction and water treatment, in a novel fashion to achieve a result not yet seen in the lithium process sector.” LiST will be issuing periodic updates of its process development work and achieved results as optimization testing continues.
LiST’s technical team has over 85 years of combined lithium processing experience and is extremely optimistic about the potential that the extraction method could economically process non-conventional brines and effectively unlock such brines across the globe. LiST is currently using artificial brine that is similar in nature to the Green Energy brine identified in historic fluid analysis.
Voltaic Minerals is a Vancouver-based Lithium exploration company which owns 100% of the Green Energy lithium project that encompasses 4,160 acres of Bureau of Land Management claims and is in Grand County, 15 km west of the city of Moab, Utah. Lithium and other minerals occur at the property in an over-saturated brine (40% minerals, 60% water) discovered during historic oil exploration when drill wells intercepted Clastic Bed #14 of the Paradox formation.
