The E3 Lithium Laboratory is Expanding to Include the Production of Lithium Carbonate

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from Business Wire

Published on May 9, 2024 • 5 minutes reading

Highlights:

E3 Lithium is expanding its Calgary-based laboratory to produce battery products, including lithium carbonate
E3 Lithium plans to build scaled-down lithium carbonate validation facilities that will support the feasibility study and future operations
The carbonate produced from this work will allow the company to refine its process for battery-grade lithium carbonate

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CALGARY, Alberta – E3 LITHIUM LTD. (TSXV: ETL) (FSE: OW3) (OTCQX: EEMMF), “E3 Lithium” or the “Company”, a leader in Canadian lithium, is pleased to announce that it is expanding its Calgary-based laboratory to to integrate the equipment for completion, polishing and production of battery products such as lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide.

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E3 Lithium’s development facility at the University of Calgary has been operational since early 2021. The facilities focus on the development and verification of processing technologies for direct lithium extraction (DLE). The in-house team of experts was instrumental in ensuring that E3 Lithium successfully completed the necessary technology development and selection steps, including verification testing of third-party DLE processes to support design and decision making for the commercial facility. E3 also has its own internal analytics team, which allows the company to efficiently and quickly achieve consistent results from the various testing processes.

By defining the downstream processes that utilize chemical conversion to produce lithium carbonate and then lithium hydroxide, E3 will apply the same validation, verification and optimization strategy to the conversion processes. This includes building scaled-down process facilities that mimic commercial systems to validate and optimize lithium carbonate production. The team will continue to investigate whether it is necessary to complete the equipment to move from carbonate to lithium hydroxide. This work will support the technical feasibility study and future commercial operations of E3 Lithium.

“Developing this capability internally provides significant benefits in terms of results accuracy, cost efficiency and flexibility,” said Chris Doornbos, President and CEO of E3 Lithium. “By building and operating scaled-down devices that closely resemble commercial operations, our highly trained laboratory team will verify and optimize the process. The results the laboratory will deliver will support the design and operation of the Company’s commercial facility and increase the efficiency of our future commercial operations by providing rapid and accurate data and analysis.”

The post-DLE to lithium carbonate flowchart

DLE technology efficiently and effectively extracts lithium ions from the brine of E3 Lithium, creating a lithium-rich concentrate stream. The process for converting the lithium-rich solution (a liquid) into lithium carbonate (a solid) utilizes conventional chemical reactions and industry standard processes and consists of two main steps: purification with volume reduction and precipitation of lithium products.

Cleansing and volume reduction: This step removes the impurities, primarily calcium, magnesium and boron, from the DLE lithium-rich product stream, further concentrates the lithium stream and recovers water for reuse in the process. Examples of process technology used in this step may include precipitation, nanofiltration, ion exchange, reverse osmosis (RO), and evaporation.
Precipitation: The final step involves a conversion process in which soda ash is mixed with the purified, concentrated lithium solution to produce a solid lithium carbonate precipitate (Li2CO3).

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E3 Lithium will analyze the carbonate product for impurities, allowing the Company to gain a deeper understanding of the process requirements required to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate and, if necessary, optimize the design and/or operating parameters. E3 Lithium will also send the produced carbonate to certified third-party laboratories for independent validation. The company is also evaluating the development of lithium hydroxide production as it focuses on building the carbonate as a first step.

About the E3 Lithium laboratory

E3 Lithium’s laboratory is located in the University of Calgary Research Park and includes office space and laboratory facilities. It is fully equipped to standard laboratory specifications and includes key safety devices and a range of analytical instruments for carrying out a wide range of tests and experiments. The laboratory team consists of individuals with diverse academic backgrounds and industry experience, ensuring a multidisciplinary approach to research and development efforts.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chris Doornbos, President and CEO
E3 Lithium Ltd.

About E3 Lithium

E3 Lithium is a development company with a total of 16.0 million tonnes of measured and indicated lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and 0.9 million tonnes of LCE inferred mineral resources¹ in Alberta. As outlined in E3’s Preliminary Economic Assessment, the Clearwater Lithium Project has an 8% NPV of $1.1 billion with a pre-tax IRR of 32% and $820 million with an after-tax IRR of 27%¹. E3 Lithium’s goal is to produce high-purity, battery-grade lithium products to power the growing electric revolution. With a significant lithium resource and innovative technology solutions, E3 Lithium has the potential to bring lithium to market from one of the best jurisdictions in the world.

1: The NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Clearwater Lithium Project was amended on September 17, 2021. Gordon MacMillan, P.Geol, QP, Fluid Domains Inc. and Grahame Binks, MAusIMM, QP (Metallurgy) , formerly Sedgman Canada Limited (Reporting date: June 15, 2018, Effective date: June 4, 2018, Revision date: September 17 2021). The NI 43-101 Technical Resource Report for the North Rocky Property dated October 27, 2017 identified 0.9 million tonnes of LCE (inferred). The NI 43-101 Technical Resource Report for the Bashaw District Project, effective March 21, 2023, identified 16.0 million tonnes of LCE (measured and indicated). All reports are available on the E3 Lithium website (e3lithium.ca/technical-reports) and SEDA+ (www.sedarplus.ca).

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Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements as well as management’s objectives, strategies, beliefs and intentions. Forward-looking statements are often identified by words such as “may,” “will,” “plan,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend” and similar words that relate to future events and results. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs and expectations. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and is subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, fluctuating commodity prices, the effectiveness and feasibility of new lithium extraction technologies that have not yet been tested or on a commercial scale or on the Company’s premises, competitive risks and the availability of financing as more fully described in our most recent securities filings available at www.sedarplus.ca. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and we caution against undue reliance on them. We undertake no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.