British Lithium Ltd has applied for two further patents, taking the total to three in less than three months, to help protect the environment during its operations in Cornwall.
“The latest applications are part of an innovative hydro-metallurgical process that uses salt, rather than acid, to extract lithium, the key ingredient in making electric vehicle batteries,” said the Australian miner in a statement.
The company’s head of metallurgy, Dr Klaas Peter van der Wielen who led the approach, added that the methods used would minimise waste and help protect the environment.
The work has been funded by Innovate UK Edge and Sirius Intellectual Property helped British Lithium with the applications which were announced on 7 July.
“We are making extraordinary advances in our innovative methodology and are very grateful for the UK Government’s financial assistance to date,” said chief executive Andrew Smith.
“Our aim is to develop a hard rock quarry and integrated refinery capable of annually producing 20,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate with the most forward-thinking technological and sustainable solutions possible.
“This is another milestone moment in achieving our ambitions.”
Mi-Sep ®
British Lithium announced in May 2021 that it had made its first patent application for a low-energy, chemical-free process for physically separating the mica in granite containing lithium.
The company’s process for extracting and concentrating lithium-mica from Cornish granite reduces the mass requiring subsequent treatment by 80% without use of chemicals.
The invention Mi-Sep ®, which is in a patent pending status – followed three years of research.
Innovate UK funded part of the research and Innovate UK Edge provided the legal knowledge to file the patent application at the UK Intellectual Property Office.
The company has so received more than £3.5 million in grants from the Government.
DRILLING TO DATE
British Lithium began its early stage drilling during the first quarter of 2019 followed by diamond drilling in December of the same year to a depth of 354m.
In December 2020, phase two of operations involved shallow infill drilling before phase three which comprised infill reverse circulation drilling in Q1 2021.
A fourth round of drilling in February 2021 aimed to define the extent of the lithium carbonate resource identified in previous exploration work.
A total of 17 holes were drilled to a depth of 250m, with each metre assayed initially at the company’s laboratory before being shipped abroad for more in-depth analysis.
British Lithium was founded by its chairman Roderick Smith whose son Andrew is the chief executive.