Extremadura New Energies will incorporate an innovative, more environmentally sustainable lithium processing system.
The definitive project of Extremadura New Energies for its lithium processing plant in Cáceres will finally incorporate the innovative Li-Stream RPKTM system, in the process of being patented, which will simplify and improve the current process in terms of performance, energy consumption, environmental impact and potentially reduce operating costs.This substantial improvement of the project is possible after having successfully completed the numerous experimental tests carried out by Infinity Green Tech and the company's technical teams, and will be incorporated into the document in which the company will request the Exploitation Concession to the Junta de Extremadura in the coming months. The process is called Li-Stream RPKTM and has been developed by Infinity Green Tech, a subsidiary of Infinity Lithium, during the process of evaluating different technologies and applications of chemical conversion of lithium both for San Jose and for a broader source of lithium-bearing hard rock minerals.
The investment and effort made in recent times by the company have been carried out in order to obtain new advances and improved techniques that could satisfy the demands of the population of Cáceres and the authorities by implementing a more sustainable production process, thus making possible the discovery of this new production system. The company's technical team has been evaluating the different technically viable extractive technologies, allowing the identification of several process improvements in terms of performance, energy consumption, environmental impact and potential cost.
This new technique, developed specifically to meet the demands of the population of Cáceres and the authorities and adjusted to the specific characteristics of the San José de Valdeflórez deposit, will make it possible to simplify the system by which the extracted lithium is processed until lithium hydroxide is produced for batteries and increase the amount of lithium extracted. Specifically, in each ton treated, approximately 50% of the available lithium will be extracted from the extracted 90% of the lithium.
Some operations, such as toasting (and the gas consumption associated with it), will also be eliminated, while energy will be generated that can be applicable in the processes of leaching, evaporation and crystallization.Likewise, the implementation of this new cutting-edge technology and in the process of being patented will mean an increase in investment in the San José project, which will directly reverse an increase in fiscal and economic return for the city of Cáceres and for Extremadura.In this way, the company continues to work to put on the table an integrated industrial lithium processing project that will be unique in the world for its innovative characteristics and for the application of the highest standards of environmental sustainability, with a defined objective of reaching 0 CO2 emissions.
The CEO of Extremadura New Energies, Ramón Jiménez, has highlighted the importance of these advances, which are in the line marked from the first moment by the company of presenting a project with the minimum environmental impact and with the greatest technological innovations currently available. Jiménez has pointed out that this new process "will significantly improve the project in response to the demands we have been collecting from the population of Cáceres and the authorities, making it more efficient and sustainable" and, in addition, "it can open a new era for lithium mica applications."In this sense, and following the 'road map' already announced by the company, the objective is to present the definitive project in the Junta de Extremadura, with the incorporation of the new Li-Stream RPKTM production system, in the last quarter of the year, so that the Exploitation Concession is requested and the environmental impact study is started as soon as possible. To this end, the technicians of Extremadura New Energies continue to work on the incorporation into the final project of the comments of the aforementioned Scope Document, while the updated economic studies are close to completion.
