British Lithium's pilot plant incorporates all processing stages, from quarrying to lithium carbonate production. (Image credit: British Lithium)
Lithium is depleting faster than anyone every imagined. It'll have to be sourced elsewhere in time. UK-based British Lithium has announced a world's first at producing lithium from mica taken from granite, which is processed at the company's pilot plant near Roche in Cornwall, England. The plant incorporates all processing stages, from quarrying to lithium carbonate production, including crushing, grinding and beneficiating the ore, electric calcination, acid-free leaching and multiple purification steps that include ion exchange.
The UK has set a goal of requiring all vehicles to be converted to electric by 2030, and lithium carbonate is a critical component in the batteries that will power them. Being able to produce lithium carbonate would help the country achieve that goal. The lithium content in UK granite is relatively low compared to other countries such as Australia, where lithium content is said to be four times as high. British Lithium has developed what it deems an efficient system to process the raw material to be competitive in terms of costs.
The process involves crushing and grinding the ore-bearing granite, which is followed by the newly developed calcination process at lower temperatures, before the lithium carbonate is leached acid-free and purified in several steps. That process is purported to work at lower temperatures, which saves energy, and the use of chemicals has also been reduced. British Lithium expects to produce 5-kilograms of lithium carbonate per day at its pilot plant, enough to satisfy the project's feasibility. Once developed, it will begin building a full-scale plant.
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