GLEBE – Green Lithium Extraction from BrinE

我们的目标是生产“绿色锂”，为英格兰东北部新建的大型工厂和在建的锂精炼厂以及更广泛的汽车行业提供运输成本优势、供应保证和比外国供应商更高的环境溢价。我们对该项目的愿景是生成所需的信息，并为从达勒姆郡Weardale的伊斯特盖特地热卤水中提取锂提供投资准备的商业案例。与国内其他含锂地热卤水不同，该资源具有独特的特点，它的重金属含量低，流量大。资源勘查开发和2.DLE提取锂并将其转化为电池级材料。这一信息非常关键，因为我们需要向我们生产的锂材料的投资者和最终用户保证，该资源是长期可持续的。在确定了工艺路线后，假设试点工厂的设计仍然有效，我们将确定试点工厂和全尺寸工厂的资本和运营成本。通过财务分析，我们将确定每公斤氯化锂和碳酸锂的生产成本，并为Weardale Lithium准备一份损益和资产负债表，从2023年开始建设试点工厂，假设碳酸锂和氢氧化锂在世界市场上的价格。在这项工作的同时，我们将进行市场研究，并与电池材料制造商和巨型工厂一起确定对我们产品的可能需求，确定国内锂来源对他们的战略计划有多重要。将进行一项社会研究，以估计Weardale Lithium内部和外部供应链将创造或挽救的就业机会数量，以及该项目将为更广泛的社区带来的好处。当局将进行财务分析，以确定项目的效益和商业案例的反事实，以进一步证明任何进一步的公共资金投入是合理的。可行性研究的结果将被用来为试验工厂的建设和未来对全面工厂的投资创造一个随时准备投资的商业案例。

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.