Critical Elements Reports 99.98% Lithium Carbonate Purity in Laboratory Testing

Critical Elements Corporation (TSXV:CRE,OTCQX:CRECF,FWB:F12) reported that laboratory scale hydrometallurgical testing is in progress as part of the feasibility study of its “Rose Lithium -Tantalum” project. That testing continues from tests previously undertaken at the ACMEMET laboratory in Vancouver.

As quoted in the press release:

The results obtained from the tests to date have shown that the developed process can safely produce lithium carbonate with an overall recovery rate up to 96%. The overall purity (calculated by difference, by subtracting the main impurities) gave values up to 99.98%, and thus, surpassing the requirements of battery grade lithium carbonate. The success in producing this high purity product is directly related to the selected processing method (sodium carbonate alkaline process), which when compared to the sulfuric acid process, presents less risk to the environment and dissolve less impurities at the leaching stage, which minimizes difficulties relating to the final product purification.

Critical Elements CEO, Jean-Sébastien Lavallée, said:

We are extremely happy with the results obtained in our optimization phase. To date, we have increased our tantalum recovery by 50% to a now average of 76%. We have also upgraded one of the main flotation reagents to a lower cost product and improved the lithium concentration grade up to 6.4%. This should positively impact the global operation cost per ton. The optimization phase is a crucial step before the final feasibility plant design and we will be continuously testing to ensure Management controls, to the best of our abilities, the different potential obstacles that can occur ramping up the plant into production.

Click here to read the Critical Elements Corporation (TSXV:CRE) press release