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- Battery metals specialist Arcadia Minerals (AM7) reports “positive” early results for an environmentally-friendly method of acid leaching lithium from clay
- The company tested organic acids for leaching at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa using clays from its Bitterwasser project in Namibia
- One acid showed lithium leachability of 78 per cent, and Arcadia chief Philip le Roux says this is a “significant step” for the company to confirm the viability of the process
- Arcadia is now working with the university to design a full-scale test program to include tests at various acid doses, temperatures, and leach resident times using different organic acids
- Arcadia Minerals shares are up 2.04 per cent to 25 cents each at 2:07 pm AEDT
Battery metals specialist Arcadia Minerals (AM7) has reported “positive” early results from testing an environmentally-friendly method of acid leaching lithium from clay.
The company said it had been testing organic acids for leaching at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa on clays taken from its Bitterwasser project in Namibia. The purpose of the testwork was to find out if lithium could be economically extracted from Bitterwasser clays using the organic acids.
Arcadia tested three samples of clay using different organic acids. The results showed varying levels of lithium leachability, with one sample resulting in lithium leachability of 55 per cent, one of 66 per cent, and one of 78 per cent.
Arcadia chief Philip le Roux said these results were a “significant step” for the company towards possibly confirming the viability of extracting large quantities of lithium for Bitterwasser clays in an environmentally- and economically-compliant manner.
“The test results, combined with the potential of producing a lithium-rich leachate from concentrates, holds the promise of confirming processing matrices with competitive CapEx and OpEx responses for any future analyses of economic and technical assessment, which Arcadia could undertake towards confirming the project viability,” Mr le Roux said.
Arcadia is now working with the Chemical Engineering Department of the University of Stellenbosch to design a full-scale test work program to include tests at various acid doses, temperatures, and leach resident times using different organic acids.
While lithium is hailed as one of the most important materials to help the world transition to a net-zero future, the method by which lithium is extracted from clay is, quite ironically, often extremely damaging to the environment.
Further, the production of sulphuric acid to leach lithium from clay is often quite costly for developers.
As such, Arcadia’s organic acid method could be instrumental in addressing both of these issues: the nature of the acid means its impact on the environment is less severe, and given the recyclability of many organic acids, they can help reduce operational costs for lithium producers.
Arcadia Minerals was up 2.04 per cent to 25 cents each at 2:07 pm AEDT. The company has an $8.6 million market cap.
