Rock Tech achieves near 100% lithium purity levels from Georgia Lake sample

Rock Tech Lithium (CVE:RCK) said Monday that it produced lithium with purity levels of nearly 100% without any optimization, results which formed part of metallurgical tests conducted on a bulk sample from its Georgia Lake lithium project in Ontario.

Lithium, a soft, silver-white metal, has several industrial applications, including heat-resistant glass and ceramics, alloys used in aircrafts, lithium batteries and lithium-ion batteries, which are used widely in portable consumer electronic devices such as mobiles and iPads.

Though specification for lithium carbonate purity varies among battery manufacturers, purity must meet or exceed a minimum of 99.5%.

Applying the standard  hydrometallurgical flow sheet, without any optimization of the Georgia Lake bulk samples, the purity level of greater than 99.96% lithium carbonate that was  achieved is an excellent result for the first attempt at production, Rock Tech said.

In addition to this stellar result, a high grade spodumene concentrate of 6.2% lithium oxide was achieved with a 75.5% spodumene recovery rate using heavy liquid separation. Using floatation testing, 6.2% spodumene concentrate was reached with an 81.5% recovery rate. Spodumene is a pyroxene minera and is a source of lithium.

“The preliminary metallurgical test results have exceeded our expectations," said company president and CEO, Eunho Lee.

"The results indicate, through a Heavy Liquid Separation operation, a highgrade concentrate with high rates of recovery can be generated, indicating the potential for significant savings on future capital and operating expenses.

"These results provide us with the platform upon which we can advance discussions with potential battery manufacturers."

Indeed, Rock Tech said that SGS Lakefield, who conducted the metallurgical tests, is completing process optimization and ongoing research that could result in potentially higher purity levels of lithium.

"The results of the metallurgical test marks the achievement of a major milestone for Rock Tech and its shareholders,” Lee added.
The bulk sample used for the test was approximately 800 kilograms, sent to the lab at the end of February. The sample was a mixture of blasted surface and drill core spodumene material from the Nama Creek Main Zone at Georgia Lake.
The company's 100% owned Georgia Lake lithium project is comprised of 64 mining claims and is located about 145 kilometres northeast of the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The project has an historical resource of 9.8 million tons grading 1.18% lithium oxide, based on 33,000 metres of diamond drilling carried out in the late 1950s.
Since the acquisition of the property in late 2009, Rock Tech has completed over 8,000 metres of drilling and conducted other ground exploration work, with a plan to bring the historical resource to current NI 43‐101- compliant standards, advancing the project to the feasibility stage.