Frontier Lithium commences a lithium concentrate pilot
by CM Staff
In 2020, Frontier successfully produced a high quality technical-grade spodumene concentrate.
Frontier Lithium – Technical Grade Spodumene Concentrate (CNW Group/Frontier Lithium Inc.)
SUDBURY — Frontier Lithium Inc. announces the commencement of an advanced metallurgical program for its PAK Lithium Project. Led by a reputable third-party lab, the lithium concentrate pilot will:
- Optimize the concentrator flowsheet(s),
- Generate data required for the Pre-Feasibility study (PFS) and the corresponding Definitive Feasibility study (DFS) engineering work, an
- Generate concentrate to be used for downstream chemical processing test work.
Completion of the work is expected by the end of 2021.
Frontier is encouraged by recent initial flotation tests from the Spark deposit material, producing chemical grade concentrates that met the company’s internal specifications criteria and an average grade of 6.6% lithium oxide. The 20kg of chemical grade concentrate recently produced is currently being used for a bench-scale assessment of the alkaline process route to produce lithium hydroxide. The mineral processing pilot test work program announced is expected to result in a robust process flowsheet to produce high quality chemical grade concentrates with recoveries greater than 80% and grades greater than 6% Li2O.
Dr. Naizhen Cao, Vice President of Technology for Frontier Lithium, commented “The mineral processing test work program will allow the Company to discern the options and optimize production capabilities for both technical grade and chemical grade concentrates from our resource.” He further added “All of the mineral processing test work to support the company’s advancing trade-off for chemical process selection and feasibility studies. The pilot will also produce representative bulk flotation concentrates required to pilot the selected lithium chemicals process for battery-grade lithium hydroxide production.”
In 2020, Frontier successfully produced a high quality technical-grade spodumene concentrate with an average grade of 7.2% lithium oxide with low impurities and yields greater than 25% from a PAK Deposit composite sample.
