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LithiumBank Resources (TSXV: LBNK) has revealed its 2024 development plans for the Boardwalk and Park Place lithium brine projects located in west-central Alberta.
Over the next two quarters, the company will work on advancing and de-risking these projects. They plan to acquire bulk brine samples from both sites to test their direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology at a pilot plant in Calgary.
The pilot plant aims to show the lithium application can be scaled for commercial production. The pilot plant will produce a concentrated product to test further processing steps for making battery-grade lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide monohydrate.
Since the beginning of the year, LithiumBank has achieved significant milestones, including updated preliminary economic assessments (PEA). These deposits, among the largest in North America, are expected to cause minimal surface and water disturbance.
At Boardwalk, LithiumBank plans to drill a formerly producing hydrocarbon well to collect brine and confirm reservoir details, such as porosity and permeability. The well will be extended to about 2,830 metres to collect more brine samples, conduct chemical analysis, and perform various tests to determine deliverability and permeability.
Detailed geological analysis and subsurface reservoir modeling will help improve the resource estimate and development plan, the company said.
Boardwalk is expected to recover 98% of lithium using DLE technology, producing 34,005 tonnes per year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LiOH.H2O) over 20 years. The project will also produce high-grade lithium sulfate eluate (Li2SO4).
At Park Place, the company will acquire brine from an existing well for DLE pilot plant testing and license another well to replicate the Boardwalk work.
Park Place has inferred lithium resources of 10.1 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) in the Leduc formation aquifer and 11.6 million tonnes LCE in the Swan Hills formation aquifer.
