20 June 2017
DETAILS
Nemaska Lithium Inc. and Johnson Matthey Plc
(LSE:JMAT) (www.matthey.com)
announced today that a second shipment
of 3.5t of lithium hydroxide has been sent to Johnson Matthey.
Both Johnson Matthey and Nemaska Lithium
confirm that this shipment
meets Johnson Matthey's lithium hydroxide specifications.
In addition, Nemaska Lithium wishes
to provide an update on the Phase 1 Plant Operations.
Phase 1 Plant Commissioning Update
Below are the steps that have been completed to date
as well as upcoming steps:
Step 1 - Pressure Testing and Electrical Systems Start-up - Completed
Step 2 - Membrane Electrolysis Start-Up - Completed
Step 3 - Hydromet Start-Up - Completed
Step 4 - Lithium Hydroxide Samples sent to Johnson Matthey - Completed
Step 5 - Crystallization - Completed
The crystallization section of the Phase 1 Plant
has been installed and is processing lithium hydroxide solution
into lithium hydroxide salts which are meeting customer specifications.
Step 6 - Lithium Hydroxide from Whabouchi Concentrate - Underway
As previously reported, Nemaska Lithium is producing
greater than 6% Li2O spodumene concentrate
from a mine representative bulk sample taken
from the eastern section of the proposed open pit
at the Whabouchi Mine
(press releases of April 4 and May 3, 2017).
This concentrate will be converted into
lithium sulfate and further processed
into lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate salts.
Installation of the calcination system and the acid baking process
is scheduled to be complete by the end of June 2017.
These systems will be commissioned starting in July
and Nemaska Lithium expects to be
producing battery grade lithium hydroxide samples
from concentrate thereafter.
These samples will then be sent
to numerous potential customers globally
for evaluation and qualification.
Guy Bourassa,
President and CEO of Nemaska Lithium
"We are very pleased to have delivered a high quality
lithium hydroxide product that meets
the stringent specifications of Johnson Matthey,
a large and globally recognized cathode manufacturer
for lithium-ion batteries,"
"The Phase 1 Plant installation and commissioning
has gone very well as evidenced by this delivery of product.
We look forward to sending other customers lithium salts
this summer for evaluation."
WWW.CHEMWINFO.COM BY KHUN PHICHAI
