Following the announcement in November 2022, Pilbara’s board has given the green light for the construction of a lithium pilot plant in collaboration with Calix Ltd using electric calciner technology.

Pilbara Minerals (Pilbara) will join forces with Australian-based company Calix to establish a joint venture for the construction of a lithium phosphate pilot plant. Utilising Calix’s proprietary electric calcination technology, spodumene concentrate from Pilbara’s Pilgangoora operation will be upgraded to a lithium phosphate product with a contained lithium content of 18.0%. The A$104.9M (US$ 68.5M) construction costs will be split between Pilbara Minerals (79%) and Calix (21%) with additional financial support of A$20.0M (US$13.6M) coming from the Australian Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) grant.  

Calix has stated that the project will also illustrate the potential of the technology to reduce the carbon footprint compared to current lithium production. Moreover, when combining the technology with 100% renewable energy sources, Pilbara estimates a 90% reduction in carbon emissions associated with spodumene calcination. 

Pilbara Minerals have to date been hesitant in investing in a lithium hydroxide processing facility, instead exporting mostly spodumene concentrate. However, this collaboration and the production of an intermediate lithium product represents a growing trend to capture greater value of lithium products in Australia. If successfully demonstrated, Pilbara will have the right to license the technology through its joint venture, while both companies will be able to commercialise the technology and license it to third-party interests. 

Approximately 50% of carbon emissions from the spodumene refining process originate from the calcining stage. This is because of the significant energy requirement of the calcining process, with spodumene typically heated to 1,050 degrees Celsius for a 2-hour period, and the fact that coal is the most common fuel used for this stage within Chinese refineries (though in recent years there has been a growing industry movement towards using natural gas for the calcining stage). Therefore, any move to target this stage with a more efficient or renewable fuel source will disproportionately reduce the emissions intensity of refined lithium produced from the flowsheet. However, there are currently no electric calciners operating in the industry today. Therefore, this project comes with engineering challenges to overcome and a degree of capital risk.