Jun 21 2017
Nemaska Lithium Inc. and Johnson Matthey Plc announced today that a second shipment of 3.5t of lithium hydroxide has been sent to Johnson Matthey. Both Johnson Matthey and Nemaska Lithium confirm that this shipment meets Johnson Matthey's lithium hydroxide specifications.
"We are very pleased to have delivered a high quality lithium hydroxide product that meets the stringent specifications of Johnson Matthey, a large and globally recognized cathode manufacturer for lithium-ion batteries," commented Guy Bourassa, President and CEO of Nemaska Lithium. "The Phase 1 Plant installation and commissioning has gone very well as evidenced by this delivery of product. We look forward to sending other customers lithium salts this summer for evaluation."
In addition, Nemaska Lithium wishes to provide an update on the Phase 1 Plant Operations.
Phase 1 Plant Commissioning Update
Below are the steps that have been completed to date as well as upcoming steps:
Step 1 - Pressure Testing and Electrical Systems Start-up - Completed
Step 2 - Membrane Electrolysis Start-Up - Completed
Step 3 - Hydromet Start-Up - Completed
Step 4 - Lithium Hydroxide Samples sent to Johnson Matthey - Completed
Step 5 - Crystallization - Completed
The crystallization section of the Phase 1 Plant has been installed and is processing lithium hydroxide solution into lithium hydroxide salts which are meeting customer specifications.
Step 6 - Lithium Hydroxide from Whabouchi Concentrate - Underway
As previously reported, Nemaska Lithium is producing greater than 6% Li2O spodumene concentrate from a mine representative bulk sample taken from the eastern section of the proposed open pit at the Whabouchi Mine (press releases of April 4 and May 3, 2017). This concentrate will be converted into lithium sulfate and further processed into lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate salts.
Installation of the calcination system and the acid baking process is scheduled to be complete by the end of June 2017. These systems will be commissioned starting in July and Nemaska Lithium expects to be producing battery grade lithium hydroxide samples from concentrate thereafter. These samples will then be sent to numerous potential customers globally for evaluation and qualification.
A simplified flow sheet highlighting the sections of the Phase 1 Plant which should be fully commissioned and in production this summer 2017 is available at the following address: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20170620-Step6_lrg.jpg
Join Jean-François Magnan, Technical Manager and Nicolas Laroche, Electrochemical Process Optimization Engineer, for an explanation on Nemaska Lithium's innovative process. Click here for video: https://vimeo.com/212808490/2d7e938bf8
Source: http://www.nemaskaexploration.com/