CleanTech Lithium’s pilot plant in Chile starts operations

CleanTech Lithium (AIM: CTL) announced on Wednesday that its direct lithium extraction (DLE) pilot plant located in Copiapó, northern Chile, has commenced operations. The plant has a design capacity of one tonne per month of lithium carbonate equivalent as concentrated eluate.

The first production of eluate was completed over the past week, and batches will be shipped out to North America for conversion into battery-grade lithium carbonate, the U.K.-based lithium developer said. Brine from the company’s Laguna Verde project, located approximately 250 km from the pilot plant, was processed through DLE columns.

“This pilot plant aims to produce significant quantities of battery-grade product for evaluation by potential strategic partners, making CTL one of the few companies in the sector to produce pilot-scale volumes of battery-grade product,” CleanTech CEO Aldo Boitano said.

“The pilot plant positions CTL as a leader in the sector and in Chile, with the first eluate production representing a significant milestone for the company,” he added.

CleanTech’s production milestone comes as prices for lithium carbonate, a precursor to lithium hydroxide used in electric vehicle batteries, are down by 80% compared to levels in 2022. However, since the beginning of March, prices have risen slightly and on Thursday were at 115,500 yuan (US$16,043) per tonne, the highest level since December, according to Trading Economics. Analysts recently assessed that lithium prices have hit bottom and are poised to rebound by July.  

The price drop has led some miners to cut production and costs. Core Lithium‘s (ASX: CXO) Finniss mine in Australia halted operations in January and significantly wrote down the value of its assets, as the company also faces a management shakeup. The same month, Sayona Mining (ASX: SYA; US-OTC: SYAXF) launched a cost review of its North American Lithium operation in Quebec and laid off 14 staff.

The company’s pilot plant will be used for process optimization and product verification and will provide significant data for a pre-feasibility study now underway for the project.