Weardale Lithium said it successfully extracted lithium from geothermal brines following the completion of laboratory-scale direct lithium extraction (DLE) testing.
The company produced a sample of lithium carbonate from the geothermal brines in existing boreholes in County Durham, England. Trials with Manchester-based Watercycle Technologies produced “very positive results” with elevated results of lithium extraction and recovery rates, it said.
Weardale Lithium now plans to scale up lithium extraction trials and will support the investment in construction and operation of a DLE pilot-demonstration plant for test-scale production of lithium.
The modular pilot demonstration will be located on former cement works at Eastgate. Commercial production of approximately 10,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate per year is envisaged. At commercial scale, Weardale Lithium estimate that £1bn ($1.25 billion) gross could be generated for the North-East region.
Stewart Dickson, CEO of Weardale Lithium, said: “We have taken a significant step forward in establishing that the naturally occurring geothermal brines are amenable for lithium production and validated a number of direct lithium extraction processes. We will now accelerate and scale-up the testing of increased volumes of brine towards first production.”
Photo: Weardale Lithium’s Stewart Dickson (left) with a sample of the geothermal brine and Watercycle Technologies’ Dr Seb Leaper with the lithium carbonate
