Vulcan Energy Resources

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Notorious DLE: The lithium extraction technologies gunning for the crown

๐Ÿ“… Date:

โœ๏ธ Author: Jessica Cummins

๐Ÿญ Vertical: Mining

๐Ÿข Organizations: Allkem, Vulcan Energy Resources, Rio Tinto


Instead of concentrating lithium by evaporating brine in large pools, DLE technologies aim to extract about 90% or more lithium through different methods, the most common of these being sorption (also known as adsorption), ion exchange, and solvent extraction. But investors still have a lot to learn when it comes to DLE, with the term commonly used to capture technologies that are still in the R&D phase.

โ€œThe lithium market is still really small, weโ€™re up to 1 million tonnes of global lithium production, and it takes longer to build these projects than it does a hard rock mine. But a lot more are being built so there will be an exponential rise in the production from these projects in years to come.โ€

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