Apr 20 2017
Voyageur Minerals Ltd. (the “Company”) advises that its JV partner Anson Resources Ltd (“Anson”) announced that they have achieved positive results on the latest metallurgical test work undertaken by Outotec, Finland.
Highlights:
- Initial metallurgical test work demonstrated that the high levels of magnesium concentration in brines typical to the Voyageur/Anson ULI project (the “Project”) can be reduced to a minimum level
- Magnesium concentrations of 34,000ppm were successfully reduced to battery grade levels (< 10ppm)
- Only a very small loss of 1% Li (less than 3%) occurred during the process
- Test work carried out at 40-500C. Brines in the Project area are at 600C. This indicates that the Project may not require additional energy costs associated with heating the brine before processing
Anson announced encouraging results obtained in initial metallurgical test work carried out by Outotec, Finland, on synthetically prepared brine solutions. Further confirmatory test work will be carried out over the coming weeks.
Mr. Bruce Richardson, Managing Director of Anson, commented, “The efficient removal of magnesium from the synthetic brine solution through the application of new technologies is very encouraging and is a key step in advancing the ULI Project.
Table 1: Composition of the synthetic lithium brine solution used in test work
| Element |
Concentration (ppm) |
| Li |
1,700 |
| B |
20,000 |
| Br |
2,500 |
| I |
450 |
| Mg |
34,000 |
| Ca |
3,000 |
| K |
33,000 |
| Na |
43,000 |
| Co3 |
200 |
| SO4 |
500 |
| PO4 |
1.5 |
The test work that was performed on synthetically prepared brine has a chemical composition similar to that of the brine extracted from the Roberts Brine Well drill hole located 800m south of the ULI Project area. The drill hole intersected Clastic Zone #31 which contains the lithium rich brines.
A low Mg:Li ratio is important for the processing of lithium brines where evaporation ponds are used, with acceptable ratios up to 6. With the ULI Project expected to have a Mg:Li ratio of 20, Anson has sought to identify a process to enable the extraction of the magnesium. The result of the test work conducted has been that the magnesium has been removed to a battery grade level (<10ppm). The magnesium reduction was achieved with the lithium loss of less than 3%.
In addition, by using a processing plant and avoiding the use of evaporation ponds, processing is reduced to hours compared to multiple months using traditional evaporation and processing techniques.