Rhyolite Ridge is one of only two known large lithium-boron deposits
globally. The project has the potential to supply approximately
160,000-220,000 t of boric acid and 20,000-30,000 t of lithium carbonate
per annum in the initial phase and is readily expandable. In
production, this would make the company the world’s third largest
producer of boric acid, behind only Turkish company Eti Maden and Rio
Tinto who together supply approximately 80% of the world’s refined
borates. The global market for borates is more than $3 billion per annum
with boric acid selling for around $700 per tonne. The borates market
is similar in value to the current lithium market.
“The project is ideally located to supply boric acid and lithium
carbonate to the large American domestic market and into the large and
more rapidly growing Asian markets with low-cost shipping from the west
coast of the USA. There is only one major boron mine operating in the
USA and none in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Global Geoscience’s Managing Director, Bernard Rowe commented: “These
very pleasing results confirm that a high-quality boric acid product
can be produced at the mine site using conventional commercial
processes. We expect this, combined with low-cost mining and leaching,
to translate into very competitive boric acid costs and likely to be at
the lower end of our expectations. Over the past twelve months we have
built a very strong borates team with many decades of experience and
that has provided us with a deep understanding of the global borates
market. This wealth of experience will be critical as we transform
Rhyolite Ridge into a major producer of premium boron and lithium
products.”
He added: “With the majority of global supply and reserves of borates
being in Turkey, we are confident that Global Geoscience will be
welcomed as the third major supplier of boric acid globally. The
Rhyolite Ridge Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) is on track for completion
during the current quarter. The PFS is expected to demonstrate the
strong economics of developing Rhyolite Ridge into a major, low-cost,
near-term producer of lithium carbonate and boric acid.”
Part of the ongoing metallurgical testwork program is the production
of boric acid and lithium carbonate using the flowsheet developed for
the PFS. This testwork is very important as it demonstrates the ability
to produce marketable products using a process flowsheet that can be
scaled up for commercial production. In the current test program,
lithium and boron are leached from the coarse crushed rock using
sulphuric acid in 200 litre vats. The pregnant leach solution (PLS) then
undergoes a series of evaporation and crystallisation steps to remove
the boric acid. The boric acid is then purified using conventional steps
including washing, filtration and recrystallisation. No reagents are
used in the production of boric acid.