News from Pure Energy regarding their Clayton Valley, Nevada lithium mine.

Another mining company operating in Esmeralda County, Nevada has partnered with a second company that has made a pilot plant utilizing DLE technololgy.  This DLE combined efforrt has produced a lithium carbonate that recovers 96% of the lithium content from the brine (the recovery rate, not the lithium carbonate purity %).

"Vancouver, BC, September 11, 2024 — Pure Energy Minerals Ltd. (TSX Venture:PE; OTCQB:PEMIF) (“Pure Energy” or “the Company”) is pleased to report that its partner, SLB (NYSE: SLB), has completed a comprehensive technology demonstration and testing program as required  to earn-in to the Company’s 100%- owned Clayton Valley lithium brine project (“CV Project”) in Esmeralda County, Nevada.  Pure Energy and SLB formed a partnership in May of 2019, which provides for SLB to design, permit, develop and build a state-of-the-art pilot plant for Direct Lithium Extraction (“DLE”) of lithium brines from the Clayton Valley property.  The sustainable lithium Demonstration Plant, operated by SLB, currently is producing lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) product, a direct component of lithium batteries in mobile phones, electric vehicles and energy storage"

OK, lets get "technical".  Just how "pure" is the lithium carbonate produced by SLB at their Demonstration Plant for Pure Energy, eh?

I couln't find the actual percent purity of the Lithium Carbonate produced by the SLB Demonstration Plant..... but.... I did find out that the product coming out of the SLB Demo Plant is "Technical Grade Lithium Carbonate". 

I found the following definition for Lithium Technical Grade:

"Lithium Carbonate Technical Grade is a micronized, free-flowing, high-purity lithium carbonate for use in glass, frits, and ceramics. It contains a minimum of 99.3 wt% lithium with 55% below 45 µm."

If I am reading that correctly then the purity has to be 99.3% or higher.  99.5% or higher is "Battery Grade" Lithium Carbonate used in EVs.

The Carbon Credits.com site I posted in an earlier site stated that Technical Grade Lithium Carbonate is 99.2% pure lithium carbonate or higher.  So, there is a 0.1% discrepency between the Carbon Credits.com number and my assumption number for what the 99.3 wt% means.  The discrepency is undoubtedly due to my lack of knowledge about the metalurgy science involved.  I plead guilty!

Then there is a fly in the ointment, sort of.  Not a fly that I have the knowledge to evaluate but possibly our member on this message board who has a background in mining may concede to share his expertise and function as a translator.  I came across an article that is way too technical for me to understand, but one that does stimulate my curiosity as to what it means for the future of lithium carbonate production, if anything:

Re-evaluation of battery-grade lithium purity toward sustainable batteries | Nature Communications

It appears to me to indicate that we might be able to use less than a 99.5% pure Lithium Carbonate in the future for EV batteries, that is IF I am interpreting the article correctly, which by itself is highly questionable at the least!

I hope someone with the mining and/or metalurgical background necessary to translate this article into plain English will step forward and accept the challenge of interpreting this as to the ultimate significance of this research published earlier this year about how 1% Magnesium in the lithium carbonate might be tolerated and even beneficial for lithium batteries used for EVs.

FOG!

Okiedo