Lithium Related News, page-3559

Can Southern Africa kickstart its lithium industry?

https://african.business/2023/02/energy-resources/can-southern-africa-kickstart-its-lithium-industry/

"Four years ago Joe Walsh, managing director at the Australian Stock Exchange listed company Lepidico, decided to speed up the project: he and his shareholders acquired Desert Lion and invested some $63m to re-develop the two mines and build a concentrator. The two mines are now expected to go into production by early 2025.

“We will then be exporting out of the port of Walvis Bay to Abu Dhabi, where we are building our chemical conversion plant that uses our proprietary process technology to produce lithium hydroxide and five other derivative products,” explains Walsh. In December 2021, Lepidico entered into an off-take agreement for lithium hydroxide with the European raw material trading company Traxys.

Walsh says that Lepidico’s first project in Namibia shows the commercial viability of lithium pegmatite deposits in Africa. “The reality is that the world needs all the lithium that is going to be able to get, and as long as companies that are looking at developing these assets demonstrate good environmental credentials, the capital will ultimately be there for developing lithium assets in Africa,” he says."