Today, Volt Lithium (VLT.v VLTLF) achieved another operational milestone with the reduction of its operating costs by 64%.
As a result of continual Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology process improvements, VLT achieved a 64% reduction in full-cycle DLE operating costs to process brine from its Rainbow Lake Project.
Building on VLT's previous success in streamlining its DLE process and driving down costs, this marks another critical milestone on VLT's path to commercializing its proprietary and proven next-generation DLE technology for processing oilfield brines at the company's permanent Demonstration Plant in Calgary.
VLT President & CEO, Alex Wylie, commented:
“Volt is well on our way to become the low-cost commercial producer of battery-grade lithium from oilfield brines in North America,”
“The Volt engineering and technical teams continue to improve operational processes for our proprietary DLE technology that we believe will truly drive commercial success for the Company. As demand for high-quality lithium continues to grow, Volt’s latest achievement positions us to help meet the world’s expanding need for this critical mineral, and to do so in an environmentally sustainable and lower-impact manner.”
DLE Operational Improvements
Over three key periods in VLT's ongoing advancement of its DLE technology, VLT has shown continuous improvements, including:
1) May 2023 Pilot Operations
2) December 2023 Demonstration Plant operations for the PEA
3) Year-to-Date 2024 Process Improvements achieved at the Demonstration Plant
Furthermore, VLT's technological advancements have also resulted in significantly improved lithium extraction results, which rose from 90% in the May 2023 Pilot to 98% in the recent February 2024 testing at the Demonstration Plant, the previous significant milestone.
As the process is able to successfully remove 99% of impurities from the brine before processing and achieve a 98% lithium extraction rate, VLT can cost-effectively generate a high-quality eluate of 90% lithium carbonate, a product that can be sold to existing third-party refiners for further processing into a 99.5% battery grade lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide.
With this, Oil and gas producers across North America are able to monetize value from their produced water through VLT's fully self-contained, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable solution to meet the words growing need for lithium.
These milestones further offer a key differentiator for VLT as it enables them to simulate field operations while testing brines from all over North America, proving the broad utility of its DLE technology.
Posted on behalf of Volt Lithium Corp.