An initiative to extract lithium from spodumene concentrates has been started by Medaro Mining Corp., a multifaceted company with the goal of creating cutting-edge hard rock lithium extraction technologies alongside its lithium-focused exploration in Canada.
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The primary driving force behind the new work is the realization that there is a growing trend in the lithium battery industry toward solid-state lithium batteries as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries.
In the development of solid-state lithium batteries, one strategy currently receiving significant attention is the use of a lithium metal anode to boost battery energy density, speed up charging rates, and prolong battery life.
If these improvements were to be implemented on a large scale commercially, EV driving ranges would increase and battery recharge times would decrease. Longer battery pack lifespans would also minimize maintenance costs and the need for battery pack replacements more frequently, adding to the advantages of EV ownership.
Some industry experts, such as Zhang et al (2020), now predict that the demand for high-purity metallic lithium will increase quickly in the years to come, necessitating an increase in the global production of lithium metal from what it is currently, just a few thousand tons/year, to what it would have to become to satisfy the increased demand, nearly one million tons/year.
At the same time, it would be critical to reduce the price of producing lithium metal to support this anticipated significant transformation.
It has been demonstrated that the Medaro spodumene processing technique is extremely efficient in removing lithium from β-spodumene and transforming it into high-purity lithium carbonate.
Furthermore, it has long been recognized that lithium carbonate can be treated at scale to create lithium hydroxide monohydrate using one of several various tested techniques.
Therefore, if Medaro is successful in incorporating the option of forming lithium metal into its spodumene processing procedures, this would create a single “technological umbrella” under which lithium obtained from spodumene concentrate could be utilized to produce any desired proportion of lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide monohydrate, and lithium metal.
Source: https://medaromining.com/