GLEBE – Green Lithium Extraction from BrinE

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Our objective is to produce "Green Lithium" supplying the new Gigafactories and lithium refineries under construction and the wider automotive industry in NE England conferring transportation cost advantages, supply assurances and an environmental-premium over foreign suppliers.Our vision for this project is to generate the information required and produce an investment ready business case for the extraction of lithium from geothermal brines taken from boreholes located at Eastgate, Weardale, County Durham. The resource is unique because unlike other domestic geothermal brines containing lithium it has a low heavy metal content and a high flow rate.This Feasibility Study has two parts comprising 1\. resource exploration & development and 2\. extraction of lithium by DLE and its conversion to battery grade materials.This information is key, because we need to assure investors and end users of the lithium materials we produce that the resource is sustainable over the long term.Having confirmed the process route, we will establish the capital and operating costs of the pilot plant and the full-sized plant, assuming the pilot plant design remains valid. Through financial analysis we will determine the production costs per kg of lithium chloride and lithium carbonate and prepare a profit and loss and balance sheet for Weardale Lithium from 2023 when the pilot plant is constructed assuming a range of scenarios with the lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide price on world markets.In parallel with this work, we will conduct a market study and establish the likely demand for our product with battery material manufacturers and the Gigafactories, identifying how critical a domestic source of lithium is to their strategic plan. A social study will be conducted to estimate the number of jobs both within Weardale Lithium and externally in its supply chain will be created or saved and the benefit of the project to the wider community. Financial analyses will be made to establish the benefit of the project and the counterfactuals of the business case to justify further any further public funding.The findings from the Feasibility Study will be used to create an investment ready business case for construction of the pilot plant and future investment in the full-scale plant.