Jiangsu Lithium Carbonate Plant

(Zhangjiagang, China)

Background
Galaxy is developing a wholly owned
battery grade lithium carbonate plant in
China (artist impression above) to maintain
complete control over the production and
quality of the Companys products and to
secure lower production costs. The main
attributes of the location in China are a
tighter supply chain and proximity to
cement plants (residue disposal) and
detergent plants for sales of sodium
sulphate by-product. The plant will be
operated by a wholly owned subsidiary of
GXY that is a wholly foreign-owned
enterprise in China. Production will use a
well-proven production process that is
enhanced through process automation and
careful selection of high grade reagents.
The plant will have capacity to produce
17,000tpa of lithium carbonate that is
suitable for use in manufacturing battery
cathode materials.



Plant Location
The Companys lithium carbonate plant will be located in the
Yangtze River International Chemical Industrial Park of the
Zhangjiagang Free Trade Zone in the Jiangsu Province of China
less than 1 hour northwest of Shanghai. The Companys
spodumene feed will be shipped from Esperance and unloaded at
the Zhangjiagang port at a wharf that is less than 500m from the
Lithium Carbonate Plant. The chemical park has in excess of
3,379 enterprises including 40 international companies such as
Dow Chemical, Dow Corning, Chevron Philips, Dupont, Unocal,
Wacker, Ineos, Asahi Kasei, Sumitomo, Mitsui Chemical and
Vopak.


All the necessary infrastructure is available in the Yangtze River International Chemical Industrial
Park.
Key utilities including water supply, sewage treatment, power supply, steam, telecommunications,
industrial gas and fire-fighting facilities are available at the Companys site. The location of the site
that has been selected for the plant also provides access to supply of sulphuric acid, soda ash and
caustic soda from neighbouring producers.
Lithium Carbonate Production
The following key process steps are involved in the conversion of spodumene to lithium carbonate:
Decrepitation
Sulphating roast and leaching
Precipitation
Lithium carbonate crystallisation
Sodium Sulphate crystallisation
Feed Preparation
Decrepitation is essential for the hydrometallurgical processing of spodumene ore. Decrepitation in a
rotary calcining kiln changes the crystal phase from the alpha to the beta form. This enables the
lithium in the ore to be amenable to displacement by sodium. Moist spodumene concentrate averaging
6% Li2O and 5% moisture is reclaimed from an open stockpile area and is fed to a rotary kiln.
Decrepitation takes place at 1,070 C 1,090C. The kiln product consists of a granular mix of beta-
spodumene and unreacted gangue minerals, which upon leaving the kiln is cooled to about 100C in a
fluid bed cooler. The cooled kiln product is then milled in a dry grinding mill to reduce the material to
below 200m in preparation for the subsequent process step and pneumatically conveyed to a storage
silo.
Flow Diagram Jiangsu Lithium Carbonate Plant

Sulphating Roast
Dry, milled beta spodumene is thoroughly mixed with concentrated sulphuric acid in a pug mixer. The
mixed material from the pug mixer is fed directly into the sulphating kiln and dry material exiting the
sulphating kiln is gravity fed directly into the leach tank.
Leaching and Residue Removal
The solids from the sulphating kiln are leached in spent liquor and make up water. An optimal pulp
density is maintained to maximise the lithium concentration at crystallisation as well as to ensure that
the solubility limit of lithium sulphate during leaching is not exceeded. The lithium sulphate / residue
slurry exiting the leach tank is pumped to a thickener and filter system to separate the gangue solids
from the process liquor.
Precipitation
The precipitation circuit is designed to remove magnesium and calcium impurities from the lithium
sulphate solution and present a clear filtrate to the lithium carbonate crystallisation stage. The process
liquor is then passed through a media filter to polish the liquor stream.
Li2CO3 Crystallisation
Lithium carbonate is crystallised with the addition of soda ash and the increase in temperature of the
system. The lithium carbonate slurry from the second crystalliser reports to the lithium thickener
where the lithium carbonate crystals are allowed to settle to allow separation from the spent liquor.
Product Recovery and Packaging
The slurry containing the lithium carbonate crystals is filtered and the filter cake is dried in a rotary
drum drier. The dried product is then conveyed to a storage silo in the bagging facility.
Sodium Sulphate (Na2SO4) Crystallisation
Sodium sulphate from the process solution is crystallised in an evaporative crystalliser system. The
sodium sulphate slurry formed in the sulphate crystallisation stage reports to the sodium sulphate
thickener where the solids are allowed to settle and then underflow to a vacuum belt filter. The
sodium sulphate is sold as a by-product to the detergent industry.
Product Quality
Indicative Analysis
Chemical Content
Lithium Li2CO3 >99.5% Calcium Ca 0.005%
Sodium Na 0.025% Potassium K 0.001%
Iron Fe 0.001% Manganese Mn 0.001%
Copper Cu 0.001% Silica Si 0.005%
Magnesium Mg 0.01% Chloride Cl 0.003%
Aluminium Al 0.005% Sulphate SO4 0.08%
Lead Pb 0.001% Moisture H2O 0.40%

Reagent Supply is Secured Locally
The key reagents for the sulphate process for lithium carbonate production are soda ash and sulphuric
acid.
The Company signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with its future neighbour, Two Lions (Zhangjiagang) Fine
Chemicals Co., Ltd. to supply 38,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid per annum for 15 years. The supply
arrangement also includes supply of sodium hydroxide and steam and access to modern automated
bulk mineral unloading facilities.
Galaxy has also secured a supply of soda ash with the Jiangsu Huachang Chemical Co. Limited
(Huachang). Huachang will supply 40,000 tonnes of soda ash (Na2CO3) per annum for 15 years.