Arizona Lithium (AZL) has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Cemvita Factory for a partnership to use Cemvita’s portable organic lixiviant production facility at AZL’s newly built Lithium Research Centre.
AZL recently announced the conclusion of the Scoping Study, which validated z’s position as a long-term lithium producer capable of meeting North America’s fast-expanding demand for electric vehicles.
According to AZL, Cemvita wants to change the mining industry by applying industrial biotechnology to reduce carbon footprint. Cemvita’s Biomining team collaborates with industries to optimise existing bioprocesses and develop new technologies in mineral processing and extractive metallurgy, lowering the mining industry’s energy and carbon intensity and enabling the extraction of minerals essential for a sustainable energy future. Mining and mineral pre-processing, in-situ recovery, leaching, beneficiation, remediation, and recycling are all processes that can be improved with the newest industrial biotech. At the Lithium Research Centre, Cemvita will test the bio-extraction method on Big Sandy sedimentary ore.
The critical cost centres highlighted in the recently released Scoping Study will now receive increased attention for evaluation and optimisation, resulting in optimum value while establishing the Project as a global model for responsible and sustainable lithium project development. One such application of Cemvita’s technology was in leaching, where successful implementation could enhance selectivity for leaching lithium from sedimentary ore over typical non-selective inorganic acids and lixiviants.
AZL said it would accelerate the development of the Big Sandy Project, with further processing and extraction testing taking place at the company’s newly created Lithium Research Centre. The Lithium Research Centre will serve as a technology incubator for lithium extraction from various ores and brines and for synthesising battery-grade lithium compounds for present and future battery technologies.
“We are very pleased to have signed this partnership with Cemvita. We are focused on our responsibility to our shareholders and to the environment and believe that both of these stakeholders will greatly benefit from the successful implementation of Cemvita’s technology. We aim to be a model for sustainable development and be the pioneer for Lithium producers to use technology like Cemvita’s. We are excited to see the initial results of the partnership in the next 3-6 months, at which time we will assess further partnership potential,” AZL Managing Director Paul Lloyd stated.
Meanwhile, Cemvita Vice President Mining Biotech Marny Reakes has expressed Cemvita’s excitement to work alongside AZL at its research centre to test Cemvita’s lithium extraction technique from sedimentary ore.
“Our goal is to help enable the most environmentally friendly end-to-end process of mining lithium through the application of our technology to the sector. This includes utilizing cleaner methods of extraction with the option of layering Cemvita’s other beneficial technologies such as CO2-based fuels and decarbonizing processing in the mining space,” Cemvita Chief Business Officer Charles Nelson said.
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