CEO Simon Linge told * LIT is sitting at the heart of an...

CEO Simon Linge told * LIT is sitting at the heart of an explosion in battery demand and diversifying supply chains away from China.Its novel technology LieNA is still at the development stage and coming into a pilot program.Linge said at a lithium hard-rock spodumene mine about 60% is commercial grade and 40% is either not mined because it’s not commercial grade or goes to waste because its particles are too small to be used by the chemical converters.“This technology takes that 60% up to 90% so is really quite meaningful in terms of waste and how many lithium units can be put into the market,” he said.“We will look to a licensing model for that technology because its real advantage is if you own and operate a lithium mine.”LIT’s Brisbane-based subsidiary VSPC (Very Small Particle Company) is 20 years in the making and involves developing the battery cathode active material lithium ferro phosphate (LFP), which in only recent years has come into in favour after the Chinese market switched across because it’s cheaper and safer.“China dominates the global stage on battery production, powders and cells, so it has started to shift the market,” Linge said.“We brought VSPC in 2017 and looked at the process and thought it’s good but needs to be more commercial in terms of the economics, so we re-engineered the process and know are commercially competitive.”He said LIT is operating a pilot plant for LFP and its associate chemistry lithium manganese ferro phosphate (LMFP) and over the next 12 months will progress to a demonstration facility to start producing at scale and get qualified for Tier 1 cell makers and battery makers for energy storage and potentially the EV market.LIT’s Envirostream subsidiary provides sustainable services by collecting, sorting and processing spent batteries of all types to capture the critical metals.“We’re the only actual recycler of batteries in Australia,” he said.“Others who will collect batteries and ship them offshore.“We’re the only active recycler where we shred and work to extract the various value streams from that end of life battery.“We want to secure our position in Australia with Envirostream and then look to partner overseas, probably through a licensing model.”