News

Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) has announced that it has engaged Aquatech as its technology partner to deliver the engineering and process plants for the conversion of lithium chloride intermediate product to battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate at the company’s Stage 1 Lithium Hydroxide Facility in Hell’s Kitchen, California. Aquatech is a recognized global leader in end-to-end process solutions to produce technical and battery-grade lithium hydroxide, lithium carbonate, and lithium salts.

Mexico’s state-owned lithium mining company, Litio para Mexico (LitioMx), is currently exploring methods to extract lithium from geothermal resources. CEO Pablo Taddei announced these plans during the 2030 California-Mexico Summit held in Mexico City.

Under the motto "Lithium extraction from geothermal brines: What are the market requirements for lithium-ion batteries?", the 2nd UnLimited Workshop took place last Thursday (15.06.2023) as a side event of TSEE Munich. During the workshop, six participants from industry and R&D gave insights into the technical approaches of lithium extraction up to the processing of the produced lithium products for use in lithium-ion batteries.

California-based EnergySource Minerals (ESM) has announced a binding lithium supply contract with Ford Motor Company. Under the contract, ESM will be supplying sustainably produced lithium hydroxide from ESM’s Project ATLiS site in Imperial Valley, California where lithium is extracted from a geothermal brine resource.

The first series of tests for geothermal lithium extraction have been successfully carried out at the UnLimited test site in Bruchsal (Upper Rhine Graben). Under the site-specific temperature and pressure conditions, it was shown that the extraction of lithium using the DLE process is technically possible.

As part of the "THE SMARTER E EUROPE" (TSEE) trade fair from 14 to 16 June in Munich, the "UnLimited" research project funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) is offering a workshop on lithium extraction from geothermal brines on 15 June. Here, the technical challenges in extraction and the requirements for the product lithium on the battery market will be addressed.

Geothermal technology not only enables sustainable supply of electricity and heat, but also regional lithium extraction. Researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and EnBW have produced a lithium-ion sieve from a lithium-manganese oxide and used it to adsorb lithium from geothermal brines. In the future, the use of domestic lithium sources can help to meet the increasing demand for the light metal, which is indispensable as an energy storage material. The researchers reported in the Energy Advances journal.

UK-based mineral exploration company Cornish Lithium has been granted planning permission from the Cornwall Council to assess the potential for geothermal lithium production in the vicinity of the village of Blackwater in Cornwall, England. This follows the announcement of the plans for this project earlier this year.

On behalf of the Swiss Geological Survey swisstopo and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE, the FGS (Swiss Georesources Group - ETH Zurich) has presented a report. It presents international research on the potential extraction of critical raw materials from geothermal fluids.

Sourcing the European energy transition from domestic resources – vision or wishful thinking? This question will be addressed at the conference on 25 April 2023. Europe's security of raw material supply will be discussed in the context of its economically exploitable raw material potential and current geopolitics. It examines the existing and future framework conditions for mining projects and their downstream value chain (regulation, financing, permitting).