NEOMETALS COMMENCES LITHIUM BATTERY RECYCLING PILOT PLANT
ASX Announcement 12 February 2019
Highlights
- SGS Lakefield awarded contract to construct and operate Neometals’ battery recycling pilot in Canada
- Neometals’ battery shredding plant successfully commissioned and approximately 2 tonnes of used batteries prepared for leaching stage
- SGS has purpose‐built facilities and world‐class hydrometallurgical processing expertise
- Pilot will produce samples of high purity battery materials for market qualification testing
- Pilot operation to provide showcase for customers and precedes front‐end engineering studies
Neometals Ltd (ASX: NMT) (“Neometals” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce the successful commissioning of stage 1 of its lithium‐ion battery (“LIB”) recycling pilot plant (“Pilot”) in Canada. SGS Canada Inc. (“SGS”) was awarded the contracts to construct and operate the Pilot in its fully accredited Lakefield facility. The SGS Lakefield facility is recognised worldwide for housing pre‐eminent expertise in the development, optimisation and piloting of mineral processing and chemical extraction processes.
SGS has been engaged by Neometals to undertake Pilot front‐end feed preparation (shredding, removal of metal casings and plastics) (“Stage 1”) and the subsequent hydrometallurgical processing and refining stage to deliver high‐purity battery materials for market qualification (“Stage 2”).
The Pilot is intended to demonstrate and showcase Neometals’ mixed feed flowsheet which can accommodate a variety of LIB types from multiple sources including consumer electronics, electric vehicle batteries and the emerging stationary storage sector. The Pilot aims to verify assumptions made at bench scale, it will generate marketing samples of products and will also provide essential data required for a front‐end engineering design study (“FEED”). The proposed FEED study will support a subsequent feasibility study and enable consideration of an investment decision on a commercial plant (“FID”).
Neometals Managing Director Chris Reed said:
“We are delighted to see our battery recycling project back on track. The commissioning of the Pilot represents a significant milestone and marks the culmination of extensive research and development into a flowsheet to process multiple battery chemistries, from consumer electronics to electric vehicle applications.
With ever increasing volumes of commercial LIBs reaching their end of life, we are focussed on proving at scale, then qualifying our scale‐able and modular recycling solution with industry as early as possible. The Pilot will serve as a showcase facility for potential partners as well as provide strong independent data for future engineering and financial studies”.
BACKGROUND
Despite regions like the European Union (“EU”) being heavily regulated under battery recycling compliance schemes, it is estimated that only approximately 5% of LIBs are currently recycled globally. Worldwide regulation is however tightening at a very fast pace. Regulations coupled with corporate requirements for ethical sourcing and disposal of LIBs has created a considerable opportunity for Neometals to recover critical / non‐renewable resources while reducing environmental impacts associated with battery disposal.
Neometals has developed a process flowsheet to recover >90% of all battery materials (plus recycle water and minimise plastic and graphite waste) from targeted end of life LIBs that could otherwise find their way to land fill or inefficient base metal recovery circuits. Neometals’ process flowsheet targets the recovery of cobalt from consumer electronic batteries (devices with lithium cobalt oxide cathodes (“LCO”) as well as nickel‐rich EV and stationary storage battery chemistries (lithium‐nickel‐ manganese‐cobalt (“NMC”) cathodes). This mixed feed flowsheet is the subject of the Pilot.
PILOT PROGRAM
SGS has been awarded the following programs of work:
1. Feed preparation of two tonnes of spent LIBs via physical processes including shredding, screening and rejecting steel casings and plastic wrappers to produce a concentrate referred to as, black powder (“Black Powder”);
2. Bench optimisation of the refining process on the Black Powder including leaching, product recovery and full water recycle; and
3. Construction and operation of the recovery and refining stage.
Feed Preparation – Stage 1
The feed preparation aspect to the Pilot has now been successfully commissioned using two tonnes of spent LIB feed. Neometals has developed the know‐how to safely and efficiently shred spent, but still charged, LIBs at a commercial scale and commissioned its modular primary shredding system for temporary installation at SGS.
Figure 1 – Front end shredding plant at the SGS Lakefield facility.
Board of Directors
Chairman
STEVEN COLE Llb (Hons) FAICD
Steven has 35 years of professional, corporate and business experience through senior legal consultancy, as well as a range of executive management and non executive appointments. His extensive boardroom and board sub-committee experience includes ASX listed, statutory, proprietary and NFP organisations covering the industrial, financial, educational, professional services, health and resources sectors.
Managing Director
CHRISTOPHER REED BCom GradCertMinEcon ASA MAusIMM
Chris started in the mining industry in 1990 and co-founded Reed Resources in 2001. Chris holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Notre Dame and a Graduate Certificate in Mineral Economics from WA School of Mines. He is a Member of the AusIMM and Vice-President of the Association of Mining & Exploration Companies.
Non-Executive Director
DAVID REED OAM FCPA
David was born and raised in Kalgoorlie. He commenced stockbroking in 1963, qualified as an accountant in 1967 and became a member of the Perth Stock Exchange in 1971. His firm RW & DJ Reed merged with TE Eyres in 1981 and became Eyres Reed Ltd which was subsequently purchased by CIBC Wood Gundy in 1997. David was a director and Chairman of CIBC Australia Limited. David has been a prospector, former secretary of the Amalgamated Prospectors and Leaseholders Association and private mine owner. In 1984 David founded Mt. Martin Gold Mines NL, which with partner Newmont Australia developed the million ounce New Celebration Gold Mine. Mt. Martin merged with nickel producer Titan Resources NL (ASX Code:TIR) where David was Chairman from 1991 to 1997. In 1998 David was admitted as a Fellow of the Certified Practicing Accountants. In recognition of his service to the community he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2002.
Non-Executive Director
NATALIA STRELTSOVA
Natalia Streltsova is a PhD qualified chemical engineer with over 25 years experience in the minerals industry and an extensive background in mineral processing and hydrometallurgy across a range of commodities relevant to Neometals. Her previous roles have included Director of Technical Development at Vale (formerly CVRD), Development Manager at GRD Minproc and senior technical roles at BHP Billiton and WMC Resources that involved considerable interaction with operations to identify and implement innovative projects to increase production and reduce costs. Dr Streltsova has considerable international experience in technical and business development capacities, in South America, Africa and the Former Soviet Union and is currently a Non‐Executive Director of Potash West NL.
Non-Executive Director
DOUG RITCHIE
Doug Ritchie is a senior resources industry executive with over 35 years experience, including over 28 years working with Rio Tinto in various senior management roles including CEO Rio Tinto Energy Australia and most recently the Group Executive of Strategy based in the UK. Mr Ritchie has considerable international corporate experience, including in China, and is currently a Non‐Executive Director of diversified mining company Arrium Limited and the Chairman of Uniquest, the University of Queensland’s commercialisation company.
