battery-grade Archives - International Mining

HALMEK LITHIUM has selected Metso Outotec’s patented lithium hydroxide process for production of battery-grade lithium hydroxide at its greenfield plant in the Tula region in Russia.

The order value, which is not disclosed, has been booked in the company’s Metals June quarter orders received.

Metso Outotec’s scope of delivery consists of the engineering and key equipment supply for the lithium hydroxide process, the basis of which will be the Metso Outotec OKTOP® autoclave plant. The environmentally sound production process is one of Metso Outotec’s more than 100 Planet Positive products, the company said.

Pavel Galchenko, VP, Halmek Lithium, said: “One of the most important tasks in the project was the selection of technology. Instead of the more traditional sulphuric acid processing to produce lithium hydroxide, we decided to choose the Metso Outotec lithium hydroxide process as it is the most promising and environmentally-sound process at the moment.

“The pilot tests conducted at the Metso Outotec Research Center in Pori, Finland, provided excellent results.”

Mikko Rantaharju, Vice President, Hydrometallurgy business line at Metso Outotec, said: “Metso Outotec has developed lithium hard rock-related technologies for some 20 years now. It started with the battery-grade lithium carbonate process and, when the market changed to favour lithium hydroxide, the process flowsheet was converted to directly produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate from spodumene.

“Both of the processes are patented and will be significant assets in our battery chemicals business, meeting the need to produce high-end lithium-ion battery chemistries for the growing market.”

HALMEK LITHIUM’s new hydrometallurgical plant, which will complement its existing lithium hydroxide plant, is currently under construction. As raw material, the new plant will use spodumene concentrate; it will feature a capacity of 20,000 t/y of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate, which is used in the production of batteries for electric vehicles. The first production line is planned to start up in 2023, and the second production line with a capacity of 20,000 t/y is expected to start production in 2026.

European Metals Holdings (EMH) has appointed SMS group Process Technologies as the lead engineer for minerals processing and lithium battery-grade chemicals production at the Cinovec project in the Czech Republic.

Cinovec, a joint venture between European Metals (49%) and ČEZ Group (51%, through its subsidiary Severočeské doly), is operated by Geomet. The project has recently received investment of around €29 million ($34 million) of funding from EIT InnoEnergy, the principal facilitator and organiser of the European Battery Alliance, for the project, seeing it through to a construction decision.

Under the agreement, SMS group, a leader in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the technology metals and materials sector, will provide a complete front-end engineering design (FEED) study as the major component of the ongoing definitive feasibility study (DFS) work at Cinovec.

Under the agreement, SMS will provide the following to the Cinovec project:

Full process integration from the point of delivery of ore to the underground crusher through to the delivery of finished battery-grade lithium chemicals for battery and cathode manufacturers;
The FEED will include all of the process steps – comminution, beneficiation, roasting, leaching and purification;
The FEED will encompass both the lithium process flowsheet and the tin/tungsten recovery circuit delivering metal concentrates to refineries; and
The FEED is intended to deliver a binding fixed price lump sum turnkey engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contract with associated process guarantee and product specification guarantees for battery-grade lithium chemicals. The combination of these will greatly assist to underwrite project financing from leading European and global financial institutions lending into this new energy electric vehicle-led industrial revolution, European Metals Holdings says.

The FEED study will commence immediately and SMS group is expected to deliver the EPC contract, as the final component part of the Cinovec DFS, by the end of 2021.

Herbert Weissenbaeck, Senior Vice President for Strategic Project Development at SMS group, said: “Having successfully completed thorough technical due diligence, we believe in the compelling value proposition of Geomet’s Cinovec lithium/tin/tungsten project, which is set to become a cornerstone of the e-mobility driven European battery metals landscape. SMS group is delighted to deploy its second-to-none technology metals and materials production know-how and EPC capabilities into this exciting project.”

EMH Executive Chairman, Keith Coughlan, added: “SMS is the ideal engineering partner for the Cinovec project as it is based in neighbouring Germany with a globally-respected process design capability. The appointment of SMS is the culmination of a negotiation and due diligence process that has lasted over a year.

“EMH, Geomet and ČEZ have all been consistently impressed by SMS group’s capabilities and insights into the development of efficient high recovery plants capable of producing very high quality end-products. Successful delivery of the FEED study will provide a gateway to financing institutions and offtakers of the highest quality. We believe that the intended product and process guarantees will greatly enhance the project finance either directly through commercial lenders or through the recently announced collaborative agreement with EIT InnoEnergy.”

A 2019 prefeasibility study on Cinovec outlined a 1.68 Mt/y operation producing 25,267 t of battery-grade lithium hydroxide over a mine life of 21 years. This came with a capital cost of $482.6 million.

HALMEK LITHIUM to work with Metso Outotec on lithium hydroxide plant

SMS group assigned to FEED work at Cinovec lithium project