The next instalment covers the Demo Plant LiCl production update (keep in mind this was from 23rd August)
Sourced from Update Webinar #1 on 23/8/23
Commentary made by Scott Munro - SVP Technology Strategy and Risk
“We've had the Demo Plant in operation at Kachi. It ran for about 6 months. We achieved the main milestones and we are continuing to operate it successfully. So, the major technological scale up for that deployment has been done - so, we've moved from bench, to demo size. The demo size to commercial size, the scale up is actually significantly smaller, so all of our other magnitude scale ups are no longer required. The largest single scale up that we have left to do is a 3:1 on one of the components. So, what we do have is multiples of these to install so we’ll have multiple modules to make the project work. In terms of scale up, we have very little left to go to go from where we are now and where we want to get to. Obviously, the reason from the DFS is to show commerciality for the technology, and we're tracking towards delivering that in December. What I will say is that the product, the eluate we're getting from the DLE is exceptionally clean. So, the eluate that we have taken to Saltworks to turn into Carbonate is some of the cleanest product that that contractor has ever had to handle. So, we're very confident that the product that we're going to get out of this entire system is going to be of a high quality, it's going to be repeatable, and we don't have a lot of moving parts when it comes to what we put in and what we take out. I think for us, all of the major milestones for DLE have been achieved. We are confident now that we're going to get a repeatable, deliverable product that comes out of the end of this plant. We know that people will want to buy it, as we're getting some extremely high quality product. So, I think for us, it helps to underplay the DLE technology, but it's the part that we've spent so much time and effort getting to understand. We are comfortable now that this is ready to move from Demo Plant to Commercial Plant.”
What are we doing with the LiCl out of the Demo Plant - can we sell it for revenue?
“The Demo Plant for us is actually split into two components. We've got their onsite Demo Plant for the DLE - that produces LiCl from our brine. As we announced earlier this year, we shipped that LiCl from site (that was about 120,000 litres of LiCl) that we then sent to our contractor Saltworks in Canada and it is actually at Saltworks where we produce Li2CO3. So, of that first 120,000L we've processed the first 2 batches of 40,000L each and we're doing the final 40,000L batch right now. So, we will have all of our Li2CO3 in place within the next two weeks. That Li2CO3 is a relatively small quantity. The reason that's being produced is so that we've got enough to do testing and to demonstrate quality of what we produce and to have available samples to give to potential offtakers. So really what we're producing here is sub commercial scale, we couldn't sell it - even if we wanted to, because we don't have a production licence in country. What I will say is, we are also still producing LiCl at site. We don't intend to turn that into Li2CO3 right away. What we want is more LiCl samples available to help us when we move into the FEED and detailed design phase of the project because we do need to do some testing on some of the downstream elements. So, we have material, we've got sufficient to do the testing that we will require for DFS and then FEED and detailed design and we also have sufficient to satisfy any offtaker when they're looking for samples to make sure that what they are buying is what they want to buy.”
Expand
(20min delay)