New plant construction
Halmek Lithium. Start construction of Plant for production of Battery Quality Lithium Hydroxide in Russia.
Since 2016 HALMEK LITHIUM has been producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide at its plant in the Tula region in Russia with a capacity of 11,000 tons per year. In 2020 HALMEK LITHIUM launched an investment project to build its second hydrometallurgical plant on the territory of the UZLOVAYA SEZ (Special economic zone) in the Tula Region (200 km from Moscow, Russia) with a capacity of 20,000 tons per year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate. The raw material for this enterprise will be spodumene concentrate. The project is currently under construction.
One of the most important features of the project is the choice of technology. Instead of the usual method of sulphuric acid-based processing to produce lithium hydroxide, Halmek chose the Metso Outotec soda leaching process as the most promising and environmentally friendly at the moment.
Metso Outotec is a leading technology company in various mining and extractive industries including the lithium industry with a global presence and in-house research and development centres in, for example, Germany and Finland.
During the second half of 2020 pilot tests were conducted on the HALMEK project at the Metso Outotec Research Centre in Pori, Finland.
The goal of HALMEK's continuous pilot project was to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate from spodumene concentrate, optimize the process flow including the process parameters of the production process and demonstrate the functionality of the selected Metso Outotec technology. All stages of the pilot program the selected technology was successfully tested with good results.
In addition to the pilot tests Metso Outotec has completed the design of the plant, and it is also contracted to supply the equipment, the basis of which will be the Metso Outotec OKTOP® Autoclave Plant
The launch of the first production line of the plant is scheduled for H1 2023. The second production line with a capacity of 20,000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate per year is planned to be launched in 2026.
The combination of Metso Outotec's scientific and technical potential and HALMEK LITHIUM's manufacturing expertise will enable the construction of the world's first plant with Metso Outotec's soda leaching technology and significantly increase the supply of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate to the electric vehicle market.