New Green River plant due to begin operational production of lithium next year as US seeks to move away from foreign suppliers of lithium, a major component in electric vehicle batteries and now one of the world’s most sought after resources.
Anson Resources Ltd has begun construction of its demonstration plant at the Green River Lithium Project in the Paradox Basin of south-eastern Utah, USA, with production expected to begin in January.
The demonstration plant will produce lithium carbonate using direct lithium extraction technology and will replicate equipment and the process used in Anson’s Lithium Innovation Centre in Florida, which is producing samples for OEM qualification test work.
This plant will showcase all the processing steps required to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate at an initial production capacity of 500kg per annum.
The key elements inside lithium-ion electric car batteries are the anode, cathode, separator, electrolyte, and lithium ions. Around 75% of lithium is mined in South America, specifically in Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina salt flats, calculated to have 80% of the world’s lithium.
To get a perspective on what this new US plant means, battery cells in EVs contain roughly 7.5kg of lithium carbonate, which means initial production at the new plant would be enough for just 66 EV batteries, but Anson stresses these are initial trials. Currently, worldwide, it is calculated that it takes 1.9 million litres of water (475,000 USgal) to extract one tonne of lithium but much pf production comes from allowing pools of lithium containing water to dry out, like salt beds.
There has been some local concern about the water usage. The Utah demonstration plant is being constructed at Anson’s previously purchased industrial-use holding at Green River. When complete, it will continuously produce lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) for use by OEMs and other potential offtake partners in their qualification process.
With the necessary approvals for the plant site received, including regulatory, environmental, cultural and land surveys, Anson has commenced groundwork. The company’s application for a mains power connection to the site has also been successful and an agreement has been reached for the supply of water.
The commencement of construction marks another major step in Anson’s planned accelerated development of the Green River Project and follows the completion of a detailed geotechnical engineering study over the project area and confirmation of the site of the processing plant.
