Tag Archives: Keliber

Keliber to use Metso Outotec’s Planet Positive leaching technology at lithium refinery

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Sibanye-Stillwater’s subsidiary Keliber has partnered with Metso Outotec to provide its sustainable soda pressure leaching technology for Keliber’s lithium hydroxide refinery, which will be built in Kokkola, Finland.

Keliber owns the advanced lithium project located in the Kaustinen region of Finland, which intends to be one of the first integrated operations in Europe to sustainably produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide using its own ore. In addition, Metso Outotec will provide key processes for Keliber’s concentrator plant, which will be located on the border of Kaustinen and Kronoby municipalities in Finland.

Following the approval for the Keliber lithium project by Sibanye-Stillwater’s board, as announced on November 28, 2022, the first and biggest technology contract has now been signed. The combined order value is approximately €120 million ($128 million), of which approximately €80 million is committed for the Kokkola lithium hydroxide refinery. The planned production of the lithium hydroxide refinery is 15,000 t/y of lithium hydroxide monohydrate.

Metso Outotec’s scope of delivery consists of the engineering and supply of most of the equipment for the lithium hydroxide refinery, as well as installation and commissioning services and training. For the concentrator plant, Metso Outotec’s scope of delivery includes engineering and supply of all the main equipment.

Hannu Hautala, CEO of Keliber, said: “Metso Outotec’s Planet Positive portfolio, which focuses on the most environmentally-efficient technologies, supports the potential for the Keliber project to be a world-class lithium hydroxide producer, that is among the most sustainable in the world.”

Metso Outotec has developed lithium hard-rock-related technologies for some 20 years, and collaboration with Keliber started already in the early 2000s.

Heikki Pekkarinen, Chief Project Officer, said: “The lithium hydroxide production process has been successfully tested with Keliber’s concentrate in Metso Outotec’s pilot plant during the last few years. Metso Outotec has also provided the basic engineering for the refinery, which has given us a well-based detailed technical and economic performance review of the plant. During the planning and piloting stages, new initiatives were also developed to improve the environmental and production performance of both plants.”

Markku Teräsvasara, President of the Minerals business area at Metso Outotec, said: “We are excited that Metso Outotec has been selected as a partner for Keliber’s world-class concentrator plant and refinery project. Our proprietary soda pressure leaching technology will enable exceptional material and energy efficiency for the lithium hydroxide refinery, contributing to the sustainability and profitability of the whole project.”

Kati makes biofuel drilling switch at Keliber lithium project

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Oy Kati Ab, a drilling contractor, has started to use biofuel in the drill rig operating at Keliber’s lithium exploration site in Central Ostrobothnia, Finland.

Tapani Niskakangas, Acting Managing Director at Kati, said: “Taking the environment into consideration and minimising the negative impacts is a guiding principle for us at Kati as well as Keliber. When we learned that Neste MY Non Road Diesel™ was available also in northern Finland this autumn, Keliber was the first company we proposed to introduce it, and we received a positive answer right away.”

According to calculations made at Kati, the switch from regular fuel oil to biofuel makes it possible to reduce emissions by at least 50%. It is estimated that, during 2020, drilling at the Keliber work site generated emissions of 78.04 t of CO2e, of which 95.2% was caused by fuel usage. If biofuel had been used, the estimated emissions would have been 37.90 t CO2e or 51% less. The emission reduction (40.14 t CO2e) is equivalent to a 286,714.3 km journey by car.

Keliber’s CEO, Hannu Hautala, regards the fuel switch as a good example of sustainable operation, which Keliber is committed to: “We are continuously looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact and improve our operations when new possibilities emerge. I am happy about this opportunity to switch to renewable energy at the drilling site.”

Kati started to use biofuel at the Keliber site during the second week of December. According to Niskakangas, the switch was easy: the machines run on biofuel as smoothly as they do on fossil fuels. And there is an added safety benefit as biofuels do not endanger water organisms or human health. This more than offsets the additional 25% price tag for biofuel over fossil fuels, which translates into an increase of about 2% in the total drilling cost.

Niskakangas said: “Keliber is the first of our customers to use biofuel. We are interested in expanding its use, but its popularity has a lot to do with logistics. Today, we transport the MY renewable fuel from Kemi harbour to our storage tank in Kalajoki.”

Kati has been working with Keliber on its lithium project for some 20 years. In recent years, Keliber has had continuous exploration and resource drilling operations, and the annual total drilling has varied from 10-20 km.

The planned Keliber operations include lithium mine sites and a concentrator plant in Kaustinen, Kokkola and Kruunupyy, and a lithium hydroxide plant in Kokkola.

FLSmidth to provide process engineering input for Keliber’s lithium project

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Keliber says it has appointed FLSmidth to provide process engineering services at its Päiväneva concentrator plant in Finland.

The two parties have reportedly agreed on the provision of process, layout and mechanical engineering services at the concentrator.

Hannu Hautala, CEO of Keliber, said: “We have chosen a partner with considerable experience in the mining industry, including lithium production. Our goal is to build a world-class plant that utilises the best available technology, which means safe, environmentally friendly and cost-optimised production.”

Mikko Keto, Mining President at FLSmidth, added: “We are delighted to receive this process engineering order from Keliber. It is a strong proof point of our know-how in the lithium arena, where we have been a leading provider of high-performing equipment, solutions and expertise for well over 20 years. We now look forward to this next step of designing an efficient, world class, concentrator flowsheet, in line with our MissionZero program.”

The award of the contract regarding the concentrator plant continues Keliber’s cooperation with FLSmidth, which will soon also see the completion of the basic engineering of high temperature conversion rotary kiln technology at Keliber’s chemical plant, located in Kokkola.

The concentrator will be built in the Päiväneva area of Finland, which is located on the border of the municipalities of Kaustinen and Kruunupyy, and within the immediate vicinity of Keliber’s lithium deposits. At the concentrator plant, ore will be processed into spodumene concentrate, which will then be transported to the chemical plant in Kokkola, where it will be further processed into lithium hydroxide.

Keliber progressing with Europe’s “most advanced” lithium project

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Keliber Oy has come in under the radar, proving up the most advanced lithium exploration project in Europe, according to CEO Pertti Lamberg.

The project in the Central Ostrobothnian lithium province of Finland is now at the offtake and financing stage, having published a definitive feasibility study back in June. If all goes according to plan, construction could start next year and it could be producing either a battery-grade carbonate or hydroxide product in 2020.

The deposit was discovered all the way back in 1956, but interest in developing the asset only started in the past two years as the electric vehicle demand dynamic established itself.

Lamberg said on day one of the Finland Mine Safari event for analysts and investors that the company plans to mine spodumene ore from both open pit and underground at the project, with the 7.4 Mt at 1.04% Li2O reserve base providing 13 years of operations at a mining rate of 570,000 t/y.

This would translate to some 112,000 t/y of 4.5-6% Li2O spodumene concentrate, which the DFS estimated being processed into 10,745 t/y of battery grade lithium carbonate from a plant in the Kokkola Industrial Park on the west of the country.

The DFS envisaged another seven years of operation after year 13, with the plant processing spodumene concentrates from third parties.

Total capital expenditure is pegged at €255 million ($293 million) while the post-tax NPV (8% discount rate) is expected to come in at €295 million. Lamberg indicated that changing the final product to hydroxide would involve only “small” changes to the envisaged process – possibly the use of a bigger plant – but the total operating cost of €4,866/t (including purchased spodumene concentrate) was likely to decrease.

One of the more interesting features of the project is the processing route. Instead of conventional sulphide roasting route to produce a carbonate, Keliber plans to use Outotec’s soda leaching process.

This comes after conventional spodumene concentration and conversion of alpha to beta spodumene in a rotary kiln.

Lamberg said this is a “simple process, has less stages (than sulphide roasting) and gives a very clean product”. The company has proven this at pilot scale and estimates it can produce a >99.5% lithium carbonate at commercial scale.

Sons of Gwalia previously used soda leaching at the biggest lithium hard-rock mine in the world, Greenbushes (now owned by the Talison Lithium joint venture), in the 1980s, but this was in a “batch mode”, according to Lamberg. Keliber’s use will be in continuous mode, he said.

On Finland’s wider lithium potential, Lamberg was positive.

He said the Geological Survey of Finland had recently indicated there could be at least 10 times more lithium in the country, with much of this coming in and around Central Ostrobothnian.