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Medaro Mining to Explore Extension of Spodumene Processing Technology to Include Production of Lithium Metal
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medaro Mining Corp. (CSE: MEDA OTC:MEDAF FWB:1ZY) (“Medaro” or the “Company”), a multi-faceted ve
About this update from Medaro Mining Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":" VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medaro Mining Corp. (CSE: MEDA OTC:MEDAF FWB:1ZY) (“Medaro” or the “Company”), a multi-faceted venture aimed at developing innovative hard rock lithium extraction technologies concurrent with its lithium focused exploration in Canada, has launched an initiative to extract lithium from spodumene concentrates for the express purpose of producing lithium metal. The prime motivation behind the new work is the recognition that, in the lithium battery industry, there is a growing trend toward solid-state lithium batteries as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries—and in the development of solid-state lithium batteries an option under intense investigation is the use of a lithium metal anode to increase battery energy density, accelerate charging rates, and extend battery life. These enhancements, if realized at commercial scales, would result in longer EV driving ranges and less time required for battery recharging. Moreover, longer battery-pack lifespans would lower maintenance costs, and also reduce the frequency of battery-pack replacements, further enhancing the benefits of EV ownership. In the EV battery industry, some experts—e.g., Zhang et al (2020)1—now believe that demand for high-purity metallic lithium will accelerate rapidly in coming years, an occurrence that would create the need to increase the global production of lithium metal from what it is currently, just a few thousand tonnes/yr, to what it would have to become to meet the heightened demand, nearly one million tonnes/yr. At the same time, to facilitate this anticipated dramatic change, it would be important to lower the costs of manufacturing lithium metal. It has already been shown that the Medaro spodumene processing technology is highly effective at extracting lithium from β-spodumene and subsequently converting it to high-purity lithium carbonate. In addition, it has long been known that lithium carbonate can be processed to produce lithium hydroxide monohydrate, at scale, using one of several different proven methods. Therefore, if Medaro is successful in expanding its spodumene processing procedures to include the option of forming lithium metal, this would create a single “technological umbrella” under which lithium sourced from spodumene concentrate could be used to manufacture any desired pr...