Medaro to explore extension of its spodumene processing technology

VANCOUVER — Medaro Mining Corp., a multi-faceted venture aimed at developing hard rock lithium extraction technologies concurrent with its lithium focused exploration in Canada, has launched an initiative to extract lithium from spodumene concentrates for the express purpose of producing lithium metal.

The prime motivation behind the new work is capitalizing on a growing trend toward solid-state lithium batteries as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries — and in the development of solid-state lithium batteries an option under intense investigation is the use of a lithium metal anode to increase battery energy density, accelerate charging rates, and extend battery life. These enhancements, if realized at commercial scales, would result in longer EV driving ranges and less time required for battery recharging. Moreover, longer battery-pack lifespans would lower maintenance costs, and also reduce the frequency of battery-pack replacements, further enhancing the benefits of EV ownership.

Medaro says that in the EV battery industry, some now believe that demand for high-purity metallic lithium will accelerate rapidly in coming years, an occurrence that would create the need to increase the global production of lithium metal from what it is currently, just a few thousand tonnes/yr, to what it would have to become to meet the heightened demand, nearly one million tonnes/yr. At the same time, to facilitate this anticipated dramatic change, it would be important to lower the costs of manufacturing lithium metal.

Medaro says that if it is successful in expanding its spodumene processing procedures to include the option of forming lithium metal, this would create a single “technological umbrella” under which lithium sourced from spodumene concentrate could be used to manufacture any desired proportion of lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide monohydrate, and lithium metal.