A mine and a plant
The project is located in the Centenario Ratones salt flat, in the department of Los Andes, province of Salta, Argentina. This region is known as “Puna salteña” which is about 3,800 meters above sea level, has an arid climate, strong gusts of wind and low temperatures that can reach -18ºC.
A project developed according to the most stringent standards of sustainable mining, according to Eramet’s Act for Positive Mining roadmap.
The mine by pumping: The brine that contained the lithium is a liquid that is trapped at around 400 meters below the surface of the ground. Our mining method consist in pumping it with 20 wells.
Our mining is carried out through a non-conventional lithium extraction process, through the drilling of around 400 meters below the surface. Through the pumping process, the brine is extracted from a 20 cm diameter pipe, and finally transferred to the production plant with a piping system. This entire process meets high safety standards and is designed to minimize environmental impact.
The plant: It uses a direct extraction process developed by Eramet Ideas. This process was carried out in the pilot plant and achieves a yield of over 90%, with a processing period of about 24 hours, while the traditional process (natural evaporation in pools) offers less than 50% yield in 18 months. This allows us to maximize the efficiency of processing times and, consequently, the use of resources.
Thanks to this method, Eramine is able to increase the fresh water-recycling rate by 60%. This is one of the innovations we have devised to optimize our process with the objective of “producing better.”
Eramet got 12 patents for its direct extraction lithium process.
One of the most advanced Direct Lithium Extraction Plant
The Centenario Phase 1 plant uses one of the most advanced DLE technology. It has been developed during 10 years in France by Eramet Ideas, the Group’s R&D and Open Innovation center in conjunction with IFPEN (Institut Français du Pétrole et des Energies Nouvelles) and Seprosys. This technology is covered by 12 patents. Then it has been tested for 5 years under real-life conditions in a pilot plant built on the Centenario site.
The Direct Lithium Extraction process or DLE has achieved a high recovery rate of lithium contained in the brine of approximately 90%. In comparison, if we were using the traditional natural evaporation process in Centenario, the recovery rate would be 40-50%.
The DLE technology developed by Eramet is 50% more efficient than the conventional natural evaporation method. It also enables to reduce the production lead-time to 1 week vs a 12 to 18-month period for the conventional evaporation method.
Developed by Eramet in conjunction with IFPEN (Institut Français du Pétrole et des Energies Nouvelles) and Seprosys, this process works essentially like a sponge: it captures the lithium contained in brines. This is then extracted using brackish water drawn from around 100 m below the surface. Over 60% of the water used is recycled in the process.
Eramet is currently modelling the direct reinjection of brine into the aquifers of the Centenario-Ratones salar. At the same time, Eramet Ideas teams are working continuously to improve the environmental efficiency of the process, in particular by further reducing water use.
A control room to manage the plant
The plant will be operated through a control room with the appropriate monitoring equipment.
A full team is in place that can manage the finalization of the instrumentation of the entire value chain for reliable, real-time data feedback that can be used for the direct management of operations, the definition of new processes on the entire Eramine perimeter (from pumping brine to the extraction of the carbonate lithium).
Training the future employees on our on-site pilot plant
The pilot plant has always been a strategic tool for Eramet’s project. On top of R&D it has been used as training for future operators. During the time that activities were halted due to the Covid 19, a group of people continued to operate the Pilot Plant and this instance served as training. It is still the case during the construction period of the commercial plant.
Once the industrial scale Production Plant is ready, it is estimated that there will be around 500 employees for operations and project.
Learn more about our production process here:
Working according to best standard: IRMA
Eramine has initiated the process of obtaining IRMA (Standard for Responsible Mining) certification, which is the world’s most comprehensive and rigorous definition of best practices for industrial-scale mining, with a higher standard than any country’s laws. IRMA has a has multi-stakeholder governance (NGOs, mining industry, international unions, intermediate buyers, investors and finance, etc.) and many items, among them:
- Environmental Protection
- Community Relations
- Human Rights