Jul 4 2013
Canada Lithium Corp. (“Canada Lithium” or the “Company”) announced today that it has produced its initial run of 99.1% lithium carbonate from its processing plant near Val d’Or, Québec. This material is currently being upgraded to 99.5% battery-grade material with the commissioning of the solvent extraction and bicarbonate circuits. The first shipment to the Tewoo Group in China under the five-year off-take agreement is anticipated to occur later this week.
All the circuits of the mine and plant have now been tested at commissioning-level volumes and the Company has commenced methodically ramping up throughput. The next shipment to Tewoo is currently scheduled for the end of July.
ISO Certification
The Company is also pleased to report it has been awarded Certificates of Registration for both Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety systems. The Environmental Management system certificate was granted for compliance with ISO 14001: 2004, while the OH&S Management system was certified under the BS OHSAS 18001:2007.
Production Schedules
As the plant commissioning continues to progress, production from the mine will gradually be increased in order to build up ore stockpiles at the processing plant. The ramp-up to annual design capacity of 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate is still scheduled to be completed in Q1, 2014 and the impact on the Company's working capital levels is being monitored. Over the next few months the mining operation will add a night shift roster, ore crushing will also move to a two-shift roster and commissioning of the pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical plants will continue to be ramped up.