:: Lithium Australia Establishes Supply Stream for Recycled Battery Product

In a world of profligate waste, sustainability is becoming a must to maintain living standards … and that includes sustainability in the lithium-ion battery (LIB) industry, which has so far failed to deliver real credibility in terms of its use of resources.

Most of the current attempts to recycle battery materials ignore the lithium, a critical element that is routinely discharged to waste streams. Now, though, Lithium Australia NL has developed a proprietary refining process that does the opposite, not only recovering the nickel and cobalt from spent batteries but also producing high-purity lithium phosphate suitable for the regeneration of lithium-ferro-phosphate ('LFP') batteries.

Lithium Australia, with its partner Envirostream Australia (in which LIT is a 19% shareholder), is currently developing a complete recycling solution for spent batteries in Australia. That solution includes collecting and shredding them, then separating and chemically extracting the energy metals they contain to re-birth into new LIBs.

Already, lithium phosphate produced by way of this process has been used to create LFP batteries at the Company's wholly-owned VSPC pilot plant in Brisbane, Australia.

Lithium Australia is in discussions with offtake counterparties for the supply of recycled LIB materials.