Argosy Minerals Limited reported an update on the ongoing development at the Rincon Lithium Project, with the 2,000tpa facility making progress towards continuous production operations.
According to Argosy, current commissioning works have reached the semi-continuous operations phase, with anticipated future works aiming to achieve continuous operations and lead to production operations scaling up in H2-CY2023.
Currently, the company has produced 17.5 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate with a maximum product quality of 99.9% (and an average product quality of 99.79%) at the Rincon Lithium Project.
With commissioning works nearing completion and production trials completed to date, the Company has successfully completed all chemical process and technology validation and verification work, confirming Argosy’s capacity to produce lithium carbonate products suitable for use in batteries on a commercial scale. This is a significant achievement that establishes Argosy as only the second ASX-listed producer of battery-grade lithium carbonate while bringing the company closer to generating cash flow from lithium carbonate product sales.
Argosy built a waste module, bakery, gym, recreation room, and office at the 2,000tpa complex. Contractor camp rehabilitation, spare storage platforms, site access road realignment, heightened site security, and emergency systems works are also underway.
“The Company’s Puna operations team are successfully progressing the 2,000tpa operation commissioning works towards continuous production operations, where we have currently produced ~17.5 tonnes of battery quality lithium carbonate product,” Argosy Managing Director Jerko Zuvela said.
“This key upcoming milestone will be a major accomplishment, noting the dearth of commercial lithium carbonate operations regionally. In addition, the Company is looking forward to finalising upcoming significant milestones that will confirm Argosy’s ambitions and near-term growth phase to fully develop the Rincon Lithium Project,” Zuvela added.
Production activities at the Rincon Lithium Project, according to Argosy, are well positioned to take advantage of current and near-term lithium pricing, with the Benchmark Mineral Intelligence lithium carbonate CIF Asia (contract) price recently quoted at US$52,500/t.
