posco, page-5

Seems to me lithium extraction and its proccesses will be well sought after for efficiency. Im only new to lithium exposure and doing some research. Don't know of you have seen this. Another lithium process from brine cut from months to hours. It seems whatever the tech, it comes at a cost. ie power, chemical additions etc. And GXY are in the box seat in harnessing any new technology. Nothing secret for no-one.

30/9/2012- Autoblog green.

"Making lithium-ion batteries less expensive is driving a lot of battery technology companies to look for alternatives, and forecasts that say lithium demand will be doubling in the next eight years based on sales of batteries in electric vehicles, make it more feasible. Simbol Materials, based in Pleasanton, CA, thinks brine offers a solution. The company's proposed Imperial Valley plant near the Mexican border would slash the time and cost needed to extract lithium from salty water, according to CEO Luka Erceg.

Simbol may boost output from an initial 8,000 tons a year to as much as 64,000 tons by the end of the decade, Erceg said, equal to 21 percent of projected global demand. The company is convinced demand will be there. By 2020 there could be annual sales of 3.9 million hybrids, 1.4 million plug-in hybrids and 2.8 million full electric plug-in vehicles, Erceg said.

Simbol is competing for business in a market dominated by four lithium producers, including Princeton, NJ-based Rockwood Holdings. Lithium is usually mined from ore, but brine evaporation could become its lowest-cost source. Simbol takes brine from geothermal power plants and extracts minerals via a reverse osmosis filtration system in a process that takes 90 minutes to 2 hours. Conventional methods using evaporation can take 18 months, Erceg says. If it all pans out, salt water could become the best source for lithium extraction.


http://green.autoblog.com/2012/09/30/lithium-from-salt-water-could-make-batteries-and-evs-less-expe/