"XXXX is pleased to announce outstanding results of test work on a titanium‐based adsorbent, developed by the Company, which has the potential to deliver a more cost effective and environmentally friendly method of extracting lithium and potassium from sodium rich brines as compared to traditional solar evaporation. Test work conducted by a leading independent Australian research facility has confirmed that adsorbent technology is able to successfully recover lithium and potassium from salar brines while rejecting all of the sodium in solution. The continuous cycle testing demonstrates that the technology has the potential to replace the sodium removal by the conventional solar evaporation process stage used in typical brine processing flow sheets, such as those used in the Andes region of South America. The conventional solar evaporation phase requires significant capital expenditure to construct a series of large evaporation ponds, significant maintenance of the operating ponds to harvest and store salt and has an approximate 12 months processing period. Water in the brine that has been extracted from aquifers and salars is lost to the atmosphere through evaporation. In comparison, the Proof of Concept test results indicate that lithium and potassium adsorption, and rejection of sodium, could be conducted using conventional process equipment with residence times of less than 30 minutes. Returning nearly all of the brine volume to the salar allows exploitation of salar aquifers with anticipated minimal impact on the water table.
Test Results Synthetic and natural brine samples were used in bench scale laboratory testing at a leading independent Australian research facility. Research and development work since 2015 has resulted in: ‐ the complete rejection (100%) of sodium in the brine by the adsorbent material ‐ in the adsorption phase lithium recovery ranging from 53‐79% and potassium recovery from 36‐45%. The balance is returned to the salar for future extraction."
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Although nothing on a commercial scale as yet, I like the concept (financial benefits aside) of eco friendly resource extraction. Can only be a good thing.
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GXY Price at posting:
$1.90 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
