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Reference: PLS Thread

Lithium Australia’s goal to prove up its unique “Sileach” process for producing Lithium from hard rock without the need for energy hungry roasting got a shot in the arm this week.
The company announced yesterday the successful ‘cold commissioning” of a pilot plant to test the Sileach process.
The final stage of commissioning is now underway and pilot plant trials are expected to start in a few weeks.
The pilot plant, located at ANSTO Minerals Lucas Heights facility in NSW, will process more than 600 kilograms of lithium concentrate from Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum project in WA.
ANSTO Minerals are a division of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.
Sileach has already been successfully tested at ANSTO Minerals in laboratory-scale tests, achieving lithium extractions of more than 90% with as little as fours hours of leaching.
Lithium Australia and Pilbara Minerals have formed a partnership to evaluate the commercial potential of Sileach with Pilgangoora concentrate.
If the pilot tests are successful, the partners will commit to a 50/50 joint venture and undertake a pre-feasibility study on construction of a large-scale pilot plant in the Port Hedland area. The ultimate goal is a WA processing hub producing value-added lithium chemicals at significantly lower costs than conventional plants overseas.
Lithium processing technology has been largely unchanged for 50 years. The low-cost, low-energy Sileach promises to be a game changer by removing the need for roasting lithium concentrates, as well as allowing much greater extraction of impurities.
The technology was recognised earlier this week with a WA government grant of almost $200,000 to fund test work at Murdoch University.
Lithium Australia Managing Director, Adrian Griffin, said the company’s technology differentiated it from the dozens of lithium companies joining the ASX. He said in a recent quarterly report "Being a key player in the future of lithium is not just about producing a concentrate, it is about delivering to the customer what they want, which is lithium chemical at a low cost. Technology is the key to the success that we are developing through our Sileach technology."
The low operating costs of the Sileach process create the potential to transform low-grade spodumene, the largest hard rock source of lithium, into viable ore.
This means lower cut-off grades for resource calculations, the expansion of existing resources without further drilling and greater recovery of metal inventories. Sileach also promises to convert resources with high impurities into marketable products