St-Georges Eco-Mining (CSE:SX) and its partners are evaluating potential spodumene suppliers from across Canada over the past month, in relation to its lithium production pilot plant and other metallurgical initiatives.
The pilot plant is designed to produce lithium nitrate and potentially lithium hydroxide, along with various byproducts generated through the company’s proprietary processing technology.
The company says several suitors have expressed interest in providing concentrate.
St-Georges’ consortium of partners – Coalia and LiOH Corp – has now received a first shipment of five tonnes of Canadian-sourced spodumene concentrate.
Initial work and testing is underway, with received material already processed through the alpha-to-beta transformation stage.
Coalia’s project manager Mathieu Boudreau says St-Georges’ lithium technology will bring advancements to metallurgy through several key improvements over traditional processes.
“It enables high lithium purity and recovery, reduces the quantity of residues generated, minimises water, acid, and reagent consumption, and produces valuable by-products such as alumina and nitrogen-based fertilisers,” Boudreau says.
“Together, these improvements provide strong economic potential, allowing the process to operate at lower costs than Chinese alternatives.
“The ongoing pilot project will provide data to support a Feasibility Study to be initiated by March 2027, which will include a detailed capex and opex analysis to confirm the technology’s position as one of the most sustainable and cost-effective solutions in the industry.”
St-Georges is also advancing two nickel-focused projects, supported by grant applications in collaboration with several partners including a metallurgical process provider.
Preparations are underway for the extraction of valuable minerals through metallurgical processing of previously collected bulk samples from the Julie and Manicouagan Critical Minerals Project. Processing work is anticipated to begin before the end of 2025.
St-Georges Eco-Mining develops new technologies and holds a diversified portfolio of projects and patent-pending intellectual property.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: St-Georges Eco-Mining
