18 XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3
footprint makes DLE a more environmentally sustain-
able option for lithium extraction in the long run. Water
conservation involves circulating brine through an adsor-
bent material that selectively captures lithium ions. This
conserves large amounts of water and significantly reduces
the environmental footprint compared to brine evapora-
tion, which relies on large volumes of water and expansive
evaporation ponds. Land usage is also finite requiring much
smaller facilities, minimizing land disturbance. Traditional
evaporation methods require large surface areas for ponds,
which can disrupt local ecosystems and landscapes. Overall
higher recovery rates can be achieved, but DLE technolo-
gies are early in their adoptions and continuously improv-
ing, with advances in adsorbent materials enhancing the
efficiency of lithium extraction from each batch. This
leads to higher overall yields, reducing the amount of raw
material needed and making the process more sustainable.
Despite the higher initial capital costs for DLE technolo-
gies, operational costs are often lower in the long term due
to reduced water and land consumption and faster process-
ing times with higher yields. Over time, this suggests DLE
would appear to be a more attractive, viable and cost-effec-
tive option for lithium extraction.
Process innovation is a very live topic in this mineral
processing community as Nicolaci et al. (2023) report, with
a focus on mechanisms and materials of adsorption in con-
ventional process, ion exchange and solvent extraction. The
smaller plants often report lower adoption of renewable
energy sources, perhaps a scale and location issue. Lithium
recovery rates of up to 90% are reported, in some cases with-
out the need for acid or other washing. Livent Corporation
(Krishnasamy, 2022), now Archadium, presents an example
of pioneering and best practices in sustainable lithium min-
ing as an early deployer of DLE using adsorption in 1998
for large-scale lithium production drawing resources from
brine ponds and with modest water and land disruption.
This was scaled-out to produce 27,000 metric tons per year
of LCE and working now towards an additional 50,000
metric tons by 2026. This planned expansion underscores
the scalability of sustainable lithium extraction methods
and their potential to meet increasing global demand.
Lithium processing ‘Just Profit Increment’?
We can see in the emerging high demand marketplace for
lithium that innovation is- being driven hard. The contrast
in terms of energy consumption between hard rock routes
to brine routes is stark, although overall environmental fac-
tors for brine routes may have specific challenges. These
developments play into the concept of “producing profit-
able solutions” (Figure 6) that contribute to a just profit
increment philosophy. Further some of the developments
in brine recovery from co-located geothermal sources show
significant promise and seem well positioned to operate
as localized community embedded operations that have
potential to exhibit the vision of strong Corporate Purpose
characteristics. An example here is Cornish Lithium
(Cornish Lithium Ltd team, 2024) albeit at an early stage
of operation.
CORPORATE PURPOSE AND THE TRUST
PREMIUM IN GREEN INNOVATION
CHAIN
Engineers make things happen and there is much evidence
of how innovation in minerals engineering is being used
to raise effectiveness and efficiency in mineral processing
towards a net-zero baseline. There is no simple resolution to
the conundrum posed in this paper regarding the balance
between scaling-out production at pace versus limiting pro-
duction to plants that can produce to a net-zero level. The
review of annual reports of mining companies shows fluc-
tuations in intent and great variation in how companies
position themselves.
One view is that of a balance, the trust balance,
between judging what, or rather who, will be more influ-
ential in determining the destiny of the company’s fortunes
(Figure 9). If trust by shareholders can be won to back
sustainable visions and plans, this will drive investment
towards sustainable operation. It might be, in the future,
that as electric mineral and metals are increasingly encoun-
tered by public consumers and corporations buying metals
and minerals, they will demand compliance to net zero and
only acquire resources from green sources. This will affect
commodity pricing and even lead to encouragement of a
multi-tiered commodity price or asset class differentiation
such as a metal price with an attached premium price – cur-
rently a subject of strong debate in metal markets (London
Metal Exchange, 2024). Our own view is that both driv-
ers from procurement and shareholders could and should
be welcomed -in fact leveling the ‘see-saw’ Figure 10. But
this can only happen if an authentic vision for Corporate
Purpose is proposed, rather than just a marketing strategy
or a communication strategy solely designed matched to
ESG regulation. There should be further development
of standards in branded metal market traders (who have
thresholds currently for ethical practices (human rights,
OECD benchmarks etc)) and for some metals measures of
carbon footprint, but fewer in relation to sustainability.
Mining companies need to be seen as trusted organiza-
tions who are pioneers of sustainability based on a defini-
tive Corporate Purpose. Corporate purpose means they
footprint makes DLE a more environmentally sustain-
able option for lithium extraction in the long run. Water
conservation involves circulating brine through an adsor-
bent material that selectively captures lithium ions. This
conserves large amounts of water and significantly reduces
the environmental footprint compared to brine evapora-
tion, which relies on large volumes of water and expansive
evaporation ponds. Land usage is also finite requiring much
smaller facilities, minimizing land disturbance. Traditional
evaporation methods require large surface areas for ponds,
which can disrupt local ecosystems and landscapes. Overall
higher recovery rates can be achieved, but DLE technolo-
gies are early in their adoptions and continuously improv-
ing, with advances in adsorbent materials enhancing the
efficiency of lithium extraction from each batch. This
leads to higher overall yields, reducing the amount of raw
material needed and making the process more sustainable.
Despite the higher initial capital costs for DLE technolo-
gies, operational costs are often lower in the long term due
to reduced water and land consumption and faster process-
ing times with higher yields. Over time, this suggests DLE
would appear to be a more attractive, viable and cost-effec-
tive option for lithium extraction.
Process innovation is a very live topic in this mineral
processing community as Nicolaci et al. (2023) report, with
a focus on mechanisms and materials of adsorption in con-
ventional process, ion exchange and solvent extraction. The
smaller plants often report lower adoption of renewable
energy sources, perhaps a scale and location issue. Lithium
recovery rates of up to 90% are reported, in some cases with-
out the need for acid or other washing. Livent Corporation
(Krishnasamy, 2022), now Archadium, presents an example
of pioneering and best practices in sustainable lithium min-
ing as an early deployer of DLE using adsorption in 1998
for large-scale lithium production drawing resources from
brine ponds and with modest water and land disruption.
This was scaled-out to produce 27,000 metric tons per year
of LCE and working now towards an additional 50,000
metric tons by 2026. This planned expansion underscores
the scalability of sustainable lithium extraction methods
and their potential to meet increasing global demand.
Lithium processing ‘Just Profit Increment’?
We can see in the emerging high demand marketplace for
lithium that innovation is- being driven hard. The contrast
in terms of energy consumption between hard rock routes
to brine routes is stark, although overall environmental fac-
tors for brine routes may have specific challenges. These
developments play into the concept of “producing profit-
able solutions” (Figure 6) that contribute to a just profit
increment philosophy. Further some of the developments
in brine recovery from co-located geothermal sources show
significant promise and seem well positioned to operate
as localized community embedded operations that have
potential to exhibit the vision of strong Corporate Purpose
characteristics. An example here is Cornish Lithium
(Cornish Lithium Ltd team, 2024) albeit at an early stage
of operation.
CORPORATE PURPOSE AND THE TRUST
PREMIUM IN GREEN INNOVATION
CHAIN
Engineers make things happen and there is much evidence
of how innovation in minerals engineering is being used
to raise effectiveness and efficiency in mineral processing
towards a net-zero baseline. There is no simple resolution to
the conundrum posed in this paper regarding the balance
between scaling-out production at pace versus limiting pro-
duction to plants that can produce to a net-zero level. The
review of annual reports of mining companies shows fluc-
tuations in intent and great variation in how companies
position themselves.
One view is that of a balance, the trust balance,
between judging what, or rather who, will be more influ-
ential in determining the destiny of the company’s fortunes
(Figure 9). If trust by shareholders can be won to back
sustainable visions and plans, this will drive investment
towards sustainable operation. It might be, in the future,
that as electric mineral and metals are increasingly encoun-
tered by public consumers and corporations buying metals
and minerals, they will demand compliance to net zero and
only acquire resources from green sources. This will affect
commodity pricing and even lead to encouragement of a
multi-tiered commodity price or asset class differentiation
such as a metal price with an attached premium price – cur-
rently a subject of strong debate in metal markets (London
Metal Exchange, 2024). Our own view is that both driv-
ers from procurement and shareholders could and should
be welcomed -in fact leveling the ‘see-saw’ Figure 10. But
this can only happen if an authentic vision for Corporate
Purpose is proposed, rather than just a marketing strategy
or a communication strategy solely designed matched to
ESG regulation. There should be further development
of standards in branded metal market traders (who have
thresholds currently for ethical practices (human rights,
OECD benchmarks etc)) and for some metals measures of
carbon footprint, but fewer in relation to sustainability.
Mining companies need to be seen as trusted organiza-
tions who are pioneers of sustainability based on a defini-
tive Corporate Purpose. Corporate purpose means they