PROJECTS

Jiangsu Lithium Carbonate Plant (Zhangjiagang, China)

JIANGSU PLANT OPENING CEREMONY VIDEO

Galaxy wholly owns a battery grade lithium carbonate plant.  The plant is located in the Yangtze River International Chemical Industrial Park of the Zhangjiagang Free Trade Zone in the Jiangsu Province of China, less than 1 hour's drive northwest of Shanghai (artist impression above).

The plant allows Galaxy to maintain complete control over the production and quality of the Company's products and secures lower production costs.

Lithium coarbonate is used for the manufacture of lithium-ion battery cathode materials and Galaxy uses spodumene from its Mt Cattlin project in Western Australia as feedstock for the plant.

At full capacity, the Jiangsu plant produces 17,000tpa of battery-grade lithium carbonate.

The Company has secured offtake agreements for 100% of its capacity with cathode makers in China and Japan.

The Jiangsu plant represents Galaxy's move into downstream operations, and is the first fully-automated lithium carbonate plant in China.  All the necessary infrastructure is available in the Yangtze River International Chemical Industrial Park.  Key utilities including water supply, sewage treatment, power supply, stream telecommunications, industrial gas and fire-fighting facilities are available at the Company's site.  The Jiangsu site plan provides access to supply of sulphuric acid, soda ash and caustic soda from neighbouring producers.

Lithium Carbonate Production

The following key process steps are involved in the conversion of spodumene to lithium carbonate:
• Decrepitation
• Sulphating roast and leaching
• Precipitation
• Lithium carbonate crystallisation
• Sodium Sulphate crystallisation

Feed Preparation

Decrepitation is essential for the hydrometallurgical processing of spodumene ore. Decrepitation in a rotary calcining kiln changes the crystal phase from the alpha to the beta form. This enables the lithium in the ore to be amenable to displacement by sodium. Moist spodumene concentrate averaging 6% Li₂O and 5% moisture is reclaimed from an open stockpile area and is fed to a rotary kiln. Decrepitation takes place at 1,070 °C – 1,090°C. The kiln product consists of a granular mix of beta-spodumene and unreacted gangue minerals, which upon leaving the kiln is cooled to about 100°C in a fluid bed cooler. The cooled kiln product is then milled in a dry grinding mill to reduce the material to below 200μm in preparation for the subsequent process step and pneumatically conveyed to a storage silo.

Flow Diagram – Jiangsu Lithium Carbonate Plant

Sulphating Roast

Dry, milled beta spodumene is thoroughly mixed with concentrated sulphuric acid in a pug mixer. The mixed material from the pug mixer is fed directly into the sulphating kiln and dry material exiting the sulphating kiln is gravity fed directly into the leach tank.

Leaching and Residue Removal

The solids from the sulphating kiln are leached in spent liquor and make up water. An optimal pulp density is maintained to maximise the lithium concentration at crystallisation as well as to ensure that the solubility limit of lithium sulphate during leaching is not exceeded. The lithium sulphate / residue slurry exiting the leach tank is pumped to a thickener and filter system to separate the gangue solids from the process liquor.

Precipitation

The precipitation circuit is designed to remove magnesium and calcium impurities from the lithium sulphate solution and present a clear filtrate to the lithium carbonate crystallisation stage. The process liquor is then passed through a media filter to polish the liquor stream.

Li₂CO₃ Crystallisation

Lithium carbonate is crystallised with the addition of soda ash and the increase in temperature of the system. The lithium carbonate slurry from the second crystalliser reports to the lithium thickener where the lithium carbonate crystals are allowed to settle to allow separation from the spent liquor.

Product Recovery and Packaging

The slurry containing the lithium carbonate crystals is filtered and the filter cake is dried in a rotary drum drier. The dried product is then conveyed to a storage silo in the bagging facility.

Sodium Sulphate (Na₂SO₄) Crystallisation

Sodium sulphate from the process solution is crystallised in an evaporative crystalliser system. The sodium sulphate slurry formed in the sulphate crystallisation stage reports to the sodium sulphate thickener where the solids are allowed to settle and then underflow to a vacuum belt filter. The sodium sulphate is sold as a by-product to the detergent industry.

Product Quality

Indicative Analysis

Reagent Supply is Secured Locally

The key reagents for the sulphate process for lithium carbonate production are soda ash and sulphuric acid.
The Company signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with its future neighbour, Two Lions (Zhangjiagang) Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd. to supply 38,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid per annum for 15 years. The supply arrangement also includes supply of sodium hydroxide and steam and access to modern automated bulk mineral unloading facilities.

Galaxy has also secured a supply of soda ash with the Jiangsu Huachang Chemical Co. Limited (Huachang). Huachang will supply 40,000 tonnes of soda ash (Na₂CO₃) per annum for 15 years.