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- Hawkstone Mining (HWK) has produced battery grade lithium carbonate from its Big Sandy Project in Arizona, achieving a purity level of 99.8 per cent
- The miner, together with Hazen Research, has now successfully completed initial metallurgical testing on lithium-mineralised sedimentary material at the project
- Testing involving sulphuric acid leaching achieved targeted lithium recoveries at 90.7 per cent and removed impurities with minimal losses
- Big Sandy has a maiden JORC resource estimate of 320,800 lithium carbonate
- To further advance the project, Hawkstone and Hazen are finalising plans for an extended bench-scale and concurrent pilot plant design program
- The company expects to receive drilling permit approvals within 30 days and has a drilling rig ready to mobilise immediately
- Hawkstone Mining shares are in the grey and are trading at 3.7 cents each
Hawkstone Mining (HWK) has produced battery grade lithium carbonate from its Big Sandy Project in Arizona, achieving a purity level of 99.8 per cent.
The miner, together with industrial research firm Hazen Research, has now successfully completed initial metallurgical testing on lithium-mineralised sedimentary material at the project.
The testing, which involved sulphuric acid leaching, achieved targeted high-purity lithium recoveries at 90.7 per cent while removing impurities, with minimal losses, to produce the battery grade product.
According to Hawkstone, Big Sandy’s strategic location halfway between Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada, coupled with metallurgical advances made by Hazen, have positioned the project at the forefront of rising demand in the lithium market.
HWK points to a Benchmark Mineral Intelligence report produced earlier this month, which quotes a price of US$12,625 (roughly A$16,400) per tonne for lithium carbonate of greater than 99.5 per cent purity.
Hawkstone Mining Managing Director Paul Lloyd commented on the project’s future.
“The Big Sandy Lithium Project is expected to grow from the maiden JORC resource of approximately 321,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent as we rapidly work to convert the very large exploration target to a JORC-compliant resource via further exploration drilling, which is planned to commence shortly, and with a known exploration strategy, we have turned our attention to material processing,” he said.
“Today’s announcement of the production of battery grade lithium at 99.8 per cent lithium carbonate is a highly significant event that has enabled the decision to proceed to bench-scale testing and pilot plant design,” Paul continued.
“We have a potentially large lithium resource and are able to produce high quality product in a market with a rapidly increasing demand and price.”
To advance the project, Hawkstone and Hazen are finalising plans for an extended bench-scale and concurrent pilot plant design program, with drilling permit approvals expected within 30 days and a drilling rig ready to mobilise immediately.
The company says it is well placed to support the United States’ vision to become an entirely clean energy economy and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Hawkstone Mining shares are in the grey on Wednesday and are trading at 3.7 cents at 10:25 am AEDT.
