Neo Lithium achieves 99.9% purity of battery-grade lithium carbonate at 3Q pilot plant

Neo Lithium Corp (CVE:NLC) (OTCQX:NTTHF) (FRA:NE2) reached another milestone with its flagship 3Q project in Argentina, saying its pilot plant had produced the highest battery-grade lithium carbonate so far, at 99.9% purity.  Such purity is acceptable by the firm's partner and one of the world's largest electric vehicle (EV) battery markers, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) for its lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.  READ: Stifel GMP lifts target price on Neo Lithium after significant resource expansion at Argentina project "We have reached our objective to produce high-quality lithium carbonate while minimizing the reagent consumption and freshwater footprint," said Neo Lithium's CEO Waldo Perez in a statement. "We are now ready to complete the feasibility study with the final parameters achieved in the piloting stage." The company said it would now convert its pilot plant, which produced its first batch of lithium carbonate with 99.1% purity in late 2019, from 'batch' mode into continuous mode so it can produce large samples for specification certification. Samples have already been sent to CATL in China for their own chemical analysis. The upgraded alkali method used to attain 99.9% purity will be applied to the design of the 3Q project pilot plant in the feasibility study being carried out by engineer Worley, which is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter, 2021. Neo Lithium is rapidly advancing its 100%-owned 3Q project, which it describes as a "unique high-grade lithium brine lake and salar complex in Latin America's Lithium Triangle". Recently, the company unveiled an updated resource estimate for 3Q, which confirmed the asset's scale, high grade, and potential to grow. The higher confidence measured and indicated (M&I) resource, at 1.682 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), increased by 125% at the project's high-grade zone, with an 800 milligram per litre (mg/l) lithium cut-off grade compared to 2018. In the medium-grade zone, with a 400 mg/l lithium cut-off, M&I resources were lifted 33% to stand at 5.304 million tonnes. Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com