Quality Posts as usual Welsho. Greenbushes isnt the only...

Quality Posts as usual Welsho.

Greenbushes isnt the only spodumene fish in the pond and with lithium prices doing what they are, more and more are entering the fold. The one thing for certain is that Greenbushes is by far the best quality spodumene mine. As such, mica at Greenbushes (historically) may have been less of an issue, but there will always be some and it may increase. Here are some of the players, an old reference and some are missing such as Brazil (Minas Gerais) and Russia (multiple)

Processing wise, spodumene can be liberated from gangue minerals via dense media separation using either spirals [read water slides] or cyclones [like a dyson vacuum cleaner] to separate particles based on density (spodumene is relatively heavier). Reject or intermediate streams from this process typically contain lepidolite (lighter than spodumene and heavier than waste) and can be stored separately or together with other process waste streams. Some ores are processed further to liberate the spodumene from lepidolite using flotation (collection of minerals to a froth in an aerated tank). Further still, magnetic separation is used to remove iron minerals (magnetite) - you guessed it - by passing the stuff through a magnet. Lastly, the wet concentrate is filtered and prepared for transportation as a 6% Li2O concentrate.

The mica is unwanted by the spodumene guys for at least two reasons. It reduces concentrate grade and is deleterious [read bad] in downstream processing (processing of the spodumene into lithium products). When roasting spodumene any mica will release acid which attacks processing equipment and increases the impurities in the lithium products. Hence for spodumene guys, mica is a dirty word.

Lmax changes the game for mica IMO .