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(Kitco News) - Lithium producer Allkem (TSX: AKE) announced Tuesday that stage 2 of the Olaroz lithium facility in Argentina has successfully achieved first production, with wet lithium carbonate cake produced at the filter presses.
The company said that the Olaroz stage 2 development has a nameplate capacity of 25,000 tonnes per year of technical grade lithium carbonate.
“With first production now achieved, and mechanical completion at 99.5% completion, the focus will be on completion of the commissioning process by progressively increasing production volumes and product quality over a 12-18 month ramp up period,” it added.
Once ramp up has been completed, the combined Olaroz stage 1 and stage 2 infrastructure will have a nameplate capacity of ~42,500 tonnes per year of lithium carbonate.
According to a press release, the Olaroz stage 2 project involved the construction of 15 extra brine wells, 31 evaporation ponds, three lime plants, a reverse osmosis water plant, a soda ash plant, a carbonation plant, accommodation and other services.
Olaroz stage 2 is intended to supply up to 9,500 tonnes per year of technical grade lithium carbonate feedstock to the company’s Naraha lithium hydroxide plant in Japan, which was recently commissioned.
Allkem is a speciality lithium chemicals company with lithium brine operations in Argentina, a hard-rock lithium operation in Australia and a lithium hydroxide conversion facility in Japan. The company also develops a spodumene project in Quebec, Canada.
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