ARCTIC LITHIUM

Who will be first in the lithium race in Russia? “Arctic Lithium” is ready to move to a new level

Simultaneously with the Polyarny Lithium company, founded by Norilsk Nickel and Rosatom, the license for the lithium deposit was also obtained this year by the Arctic Lithium company, which resulted from the formation of another alliance – Halmek and the Krasnoyarsk Chemical and Metallurgical Plant (CMP).

For both co-founders of this second company, the lithium topic is by no means something new. But now they are preparing to move to a new level. We talked about this with Nikolai Vorогушин, Chief Geologist of JSC CMP and Arctic Lithium.

– Your neighbors on the Kola Peninsula from Polyarny Lithium have been talking quite a lot recently about themselves and their plans for the development of the Kolmozero deposit. But almost nothing is heard about Arctic Lithium. How are its founders connected to this metal in general?

– There are three enterprises in Russia that are currently engaged in lithium, including Halmek and our plant. But the raw materials come to them from abroad and go abroad after processing. Toll raw materials. Lithium carbonate is taken, processed into battery-grade lithium hydroxide.

The plant in Krasnoyarsk can produce up to 15,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year, up to 100 tons of metallic lithium. Now it’s time to acquire our own raw material base. Moreover, we started not with the Polmostundrovskoye deposit, about which you are asking, but with the Transbaikal region, with the Zavitinskoye deposit.

It was there, starting from 1942 and until 1993, that lithium was mined in our country, which was necessary for the Soviet nuclear industry. As a result, significant man-made dumps were formed, from which modern technologies allow you to successfully extract lithium.

— How significant are they?

— 19 million tons of off-balance ores with a lithium content of 0.3% and below have accumulated in the dumps at the Zavitinskoye deposit. We started dealing with this object in 2018. We carried out prospecting work there, put part of the reserves on the balance sheet and developed technology. The heavy media separation technology, which allows extracting up to 60% of lithium into a concentrate with a concentrate quality of 4%, is recognized as the most suitable. Actually, at one time on the main ores of this deposit, a concentrate with such quality was obtained, but by complex flotation methods.

Now, geological exploration has been completed at the Zavitinskoye deposit, equipment has been purchased for it, a project for pilot development has been prepared. Engineering surveys have been carried out for the construction of a small plant next to it, a crushing and screening complex and a heavy media separation complex have been purchased. Infrastructure construction is underway.

— And when might the first metal appear?

— ЭIt depends not only on technology, there is a legal problem here. The issue is that, due to imperfections in our legislation, we cannot yet obtain a mining license for technogenic objects by right of first discovery. That is, without participating in a tender. The law correcting this situation will be enacted on March 1, 2024. When we obtain a mining license (I hope it will happen in 2024), a 100 tons per hour solid ore plant will start operating so that we can finally resolve all the technological issues. And then, by the way, we will have our first lithium next year.

In fact, we don’t even have a place to study a larger sample, because lithium is not mined anywhere in Russia yet, there is no factory to send it to… There are other problems, bureaucratic ones: for example, for technogenic deposits, the law requires the same thorough geological exploration as for ordinary deposits. But why do we need it? We already know enough about these dumps. However, all the problems are surmountable.

— But your main hopes are still connected with the spodumene ores of the Kola Peninsula?

— Yes, with spodumene (mineral, lithium and aluminum silicate – Pro Metal note) Polmostnudrovskoye deposit is located next to Kolmozerskoye deposit, which you mentioned at the beginning. It is similar in composition. But it is three times smaller in terms of reserves and resources… They were discovered at the same time, in the fifties of the last century.

So far we are carrying out additional exploration there, just like Polar Lithium. We have drilled all the wells, a total of 8,000 meters. Now the core is being analyzed and analytics are being prepared. But in parallel we have launched a pilot works project to get the first product as soon as possible and to work out the technology. At the first stage we plan seasonal works for the summer period using a Chinese plant with a capacity of 75 tons per hour at a small open pit on those reserves that were identified in 1961.

All studies have already been carried out for this purpose. Now the project of pilot mining is being prepared. And after the reserves are calculated it is planned to create an enterprise for processing up to 1.5 million tons of ore per year.

— Aren’t you afraid that in a few years there will be too many players on the Russian lithium market? Your projects – Kolmozerskoye, Tastygskoye… Companies ready to extract this metal from associated waters of oil and gas fields are at a low starting point, as they claim. Not to mention Rosatom’s projects in Bolivia and Argentina. Will you find a market?

— According to all forecasts, there is enough market for everyone, even if domestic demand does not expand, for which there are big plans, China is around for now… And it has problems. Because Australia is slowly shifting its lithium production flows to the United States. That is why China is so actively looking for new lithium facilities around the world, and they know the market situation better than anyone else. I travel around the world a lot and I see them actively working on new facilities. So I am not worried here.

— How will you finance your lithium projects? It’s tens of billions of rubles, isn’t it?

– Well, the founders are private companies, so the answer is obvious. We’ll take out loans. Private loans.

— The lithium mining industry in Russia has been non-existent for 30 years. Now it is being revived. What difficulties has it encountered?

— There are several. First of all, we must realize that at the current stage domestic lithium will be more expensive than imported lithium. This is obvious: our ore meets world standards, but there are big problems with infrastructure. More precisely, with its absence in the area of the deposits. Its creation requires significant investments. Therefore, those who decide to mine lithium in Russia need serious government support.

And, of course, those who decide to extract it from anthropogenic dumps, the state should grant rights for pilot mining already at the exploration stage, so that the technology can be developed in parallel. By definition, dumps are the raw materials that are difficult to enrich, and the technology for them will have to be developed in a sophisticated manner. And, by the way, the same should be allowed for other rare metals, the mining of which we now want to deploy – for tantalum, rubidium, and so on.

There is no adequate enrichment technology in the country. We have been trying for three years to create the Lithium Research and Production Center, which would allow all industry participants to develop technologies and methods for working with lithium ores and derivative materials. But we cannot find legal forms acceptable for the conditions of the Russian Federation. And this also requires state support.

And finally, the issue of equipment. China is a recognized world leader in lithium production equipment. The plants are reliable, proven, there is no doubt about it. But why can’t we import them? It seems to me that this would be quite possible and could be done within the framework of the Lithium Center.