Junior explorer Anson Resources (ASX:ASN) has produced its first battery-grade lithium carbonate product from brines at its Paradox Lithium Project in southeastern Utah, US.
The $190.57 million market capitalisation company reports the lithium carbonate was produced using the flowsheet designed for Anson’s lithium-rich brines at the project by its direct lithium extraction (DLE) partner, Sunresin New Materials (SHE:300487).
Anson says this milestone allows the company to advance its lithium carbonate offtake and supply discussions and provide samples to potential offtake original equipment manufacturers (OEM) partners, including electric vehicle (EV) and lithium-ion battery manufacturers.
The company reports initial lithium carbonate samples have been produced from a sample demonstration plant at Anson’s newly established Lithium Innovation Centre (LIC) in Florida, US. The equipment and DLE process replicates Sunresin’s DLE process that Anson plans to use at its proposed lithium production plant at Paradox.
Anson proposes to gradually increase production from the demonstration plant to meet requests from potential offtake partners. Since the beginning of the processing start-up over the past month, the company has produced 33 gallons of eluate from 99 gallons of raw brine sourced from the Long Canyon Unit 2 well at Paradox during the exploration program in 2022.
Production is planned to ramp up over the next month, and from there, Anson plans to relocate the sample demonstration plant to the proposed production site at Paradox using brine directly from extraction wells.
Anson plans to relocate the sample demonstration plant to the proposed production site at Paradox using brine directly from extraction wells
The company says this will enable continuous operation and will further increase production from the demonstration plant to meet the expected demand for increased sample sizes from potential offtake partners for evaluation purposes.
On 14 February 2023, Anson reported the first step in the lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) process, which is DLE, had been tested at an independent laboratory in Salt Lake City. This testwork was completed using a small-scale DLE pilot plant incorporating both the adsorption and desorption processes.
Anson says this testwork program examined the ability of the resin used in the DLE process to selectively adsorb lithium over other elements in the supersaturated brine, including magnesium, potassium, and sodium.
This was carried out by assaying numerous samples of the discharged spent brine for the various elements present in the brine on completion of the adsorption process. All adsorption tests consistently demonstrated the element concentrations remained near the feed brine concentrations throughout each cycle except for a marked decrease in the lithium concentration, indicating the lithium had been retained.
Following the adsorption tests, desorption tests were conducted on each ‘lithium-loaded’ resin column. Prior to the desorption cycle, the resin columns were allowed to drain all the remaining feed brine.
Once the columns were drained, purified water was used as the elution fluid to flush the resin, and the collected samples were analysed for lithium concentration to establish the desorption characteristics of the loaded resin. The desorption process of using purified water demonstrated the ability to readily release the lithium from the loaded resin, and the results of this test aligned with previous desorption tests conducted on brine from other wells. Previous testwork demonstrated the concentration of lithium in the eluate ‘significantly’ increased.
Anson Resources is a Brisbane-based explorer with a portfolio of mineral projects including the Paradox Lithium, Green River Lithium, and Yellow Cat Uranium-Vanadium projects in Utah, US. The company says it is focused on developing Paradox into a ‘significant’ lithium-producing operation.
Along with its US assets, Anson also holds the Bull Nickel-Copper-PGE, Ajana, and Hooley Well Cobalt-Nickel Laterite projects in Western Australia. As of 30 June 2023, the company had $38.6 million cash at hand according to its latest quarterly report published on 31 July 2023.
Write to Harry Mulholland at Mining.com.au
Images: Anson Resources Ltd
