Breathe...and re-read Airconditioners informative posts, page-31

I enjoyed reading the refs. Great on the beneficiation aspects - ie increasing the concentration of spodumene in the ore.
But roasting spodumene as a first step to produce lithium chemicals will be replaced by much cheaper hydrometalurgical processes IMHO.
Read "From Mother Nature to SiLeach" on the LIT webpage for an intro and then look at the ANSTO lab and mini-trials results with SiLeach.
NMT are part way there and a hydro plant is being built near Pearth to process Greenbushes spodumene.
Neither have the sophistication of SiLeach IMO.