ULM completes PEA Level Engineering and Cost Estimation Study for a Lithium Converter

In March 2023, ULM has finished the PEA level engineering and cost estimation study for a lithium converter. The study was run by a leading consultancy and engineering company ANZAPLAN (Germany).  The goal of the study was exploring in more detail an option of building a lithium refinery plant – as opposed to a current base-case scenario of focusing solely on petalite concentrate production.

The current study by ANZAPLAN evaluated two options, a 3.1 wt.-% Li2O grade petalite concentrate and a 4.0 wt.-% Li2O grade petalite concentrate as feed material for a downstream lithium converter. In the first processing route lithium carbonate (LC route) was produced from the petalite feed. In the second processing route lithium hydroxide monohydrate was generated via conversion of the intermediate product lithium carbonate (indirect LHM route). In the third processing route lithium hydroxide was directly produced from the petalite feed (direct LHM route).

Based on the results of the study and depending on the forecast market development the optimal processing case and feed material scenario can be selected in the future. As a next step, the data presented in the current report can be fed into a financial model to optimize the economics of the project.