In a further update to its commercial development activities in El Dorado, Arkansas, Standard Lithium (TSXV: SLI) has now successfully commissioned the hydroxide pilot plant that it will test as one of the technology options for lithium production at its South West Arkansas project.

The hydroxide pilot plant was designed and constructed by a third-party global water and process technology vendor earlier in 2022. The technology is housed in a self-contained unit and takes the lithium chloride feed produced by the company’s existing direct lithium extraction (DLE) demonstration plant; it then converts this feed directly into a lithium hydroxide solution using a novel ion-exchange process.

The lithium hydroxide solution generated by the hydroxide pilot plant will be sent offsite to another location operated by the third-party vendor to complete evaporation and crystallization work to produce battery-quality lithium hydroxide. This hydroxide pilot will be operated at the South West Arkansas project location for several months.

“The successful installation and commissioning of this hydroxide pilot is another example of the company’s approach to using novel technological solutions to build a new generation of lithium plants in North America. The testing and operation of this pilot gives our design team and project partners greater flexibility when we come to design the commercial plant at our South West Arkansas project,” commented Dr. Andy Robinson, president of Standard Lithium.

To the company’s knowledge, the project location at Lanxess’ South plant in Arkansas is currently the only location in North America where lithium is continuously being extracted from brine using a modern DLE process and being converted into both lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide.

In the meantime, with sights set on expanding its resource holdings, Standard Lithium has also been conducting an extensive geological, geochemical and geophysical review of large regions of the Smackover Formation, which is located west of the South West Arkansas project. The company and its contractors are currently redrilling an existing production well deeper into the Smackover Formation.

Additionally, the front-end engineering design (FEED) and definitive feasibility study (DFS) work for Standard Lithium’s first commercial project is also fully underway. The project – known as Phase 1A – contemplates processing the brine that is currently being handled by Lanxess at its South facility, where the company’s continuously operating pre-commercial DLE demonstration plant is located. The results of the FEED study will be summarized in an NI 43-101 DFS report during the first half of 2023.

“Our first 1A project at Lanxess’ South plant is intended to be the first of many Standard Lithium plants in the region, and as a result, we are working to actively expand our resources in a strategic manner to capture the highest quality brine assets available in the Smackover,” Dr. Robinson said.

“Based on the successful operation of our DLE plant, and our knowledge of extracting lithium from the Smackover brines and producing battery-quality lithium products, our resource team and our Smackover Formation experts have spent almost 2 years identifying key areas in the Smackover Formation that we believe are the most prospective for large-scale, high-quality lithium brine resources.”

Shares of Standard Lithium shot up 4% by 12:35 p.m. ET on the TSX Venture Exchange. The lithium development company has a market capitalization of approximately $822.8 million.

Epiroc, a leading productivity and sustainability partner for the mining and infrastructure industries, has agreed to acquire the business of Wain-Roy, a U.S. manufacturer of excavator attachments for the construction industry.

The Wain-Roy business, with a manufacturing site in Kronenwetter, Wisconsin, is part of Oregon Tool. The company’s customers are mainly in the United States. Wain-Roy has about 100 employees and annual revenues of about $24.7 million. 

“Wain-Roy is known for its high-quality products and competence,” says Helena Hedblom, Epiroc’s president and CEO. “This acquisition will strengthen our presence in the North American construction market and increase our capacity for manufacturing advanced attachments in that region.”

The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter 2022.

For more on Epiroc’s mining expertise, visit www.Epiroc.com.

Sprung Structures was founded in 1887 and evolved into a major manufacturer of high-performance tension fabric buildings for multiple industries. The company developed and patented the stressed membrane structure, an innovative alternative to conventional construction utilizing architectural membrane panels placed under high tension within a non-corroding aluminum substructure.

This technology is a result of today’s mining operations’ need for a faster, more flexible and cost-effective building solution. With recent supply chain challenges affecting the market, Sprung structures can be shipped and erected much faster than typical steel buildings.

The company’s  nine inch fibreglass blanket insulation performs well in extreme cold weather climates and large cargo doors are designed to shed snow and handle hurricane force wind loads in the world’s most remote locations. The only building structure left standing in Buras, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was a Sprung structure.

Today, Sprung counts the world’s largest miners, as well as NASA, Lockheed Martin, the US Army Corps of Engineers, Apple, Tesla, FedEx and Google among its roster of clients, and the company built Tesla’s Model 3 production  facility in California in just a few weeks.

“We’re really the only permanent type of fabric structures on the market,” says Vice President Jim Avery. “We pioneered this whole technology – we manufacture, and ship what can be put up in just about any location.”

Avery adds that a concrete foundation is not required, and Sprung Structures can be assembled on dirt and asphalt. Sprung has completed over 12,000 projects in over 100 countries, and its structures meet most building codes and standards around the world.  Sprung’s military-grade aluminum alloy has advantages over steel construction, such as corrosion resistance, lighter weight, better performance, malleability, and durability.

“Initially, this technology was a temporary application, but these are engineered as permanent structures and designed to be relocated for multi-use applications with bolted connections that can be disassembled, reconfigured, and relocated,” Avery says.

“We’re very entrepreneurial, and we’re the inventor of the product.  We’ve done a lot of work in the mining industry and [have] versatility in the product. It’s not like conventional bricks and mortar or steel building, it goes up much faster, which is essential when it comes to mining,” Avery says.

Sprung also leases its structures, dependent on one-to-three-year applications with an option to purchase in mines all over the world.

“We’ve only used our product from a fabric building perspective, because it does handle the extreme wind and snow loads,” Avery says. “We use aluminum, not steel, and our tensioning method is patented, which means you never have retention in the membrane in the life of the building.”

Sprung Structures has up to two million square feet of inventory in both its Utah, US and Calgary, Canada, manufacturing and distribution centers. The minimal foundation requirements in some cases contribute to overall cost effectiveness as operating costs are lower than traditional buildings.

Sprung Structures’ business development manager Pablo Noriega points out the company also specializes in state-of-the-art dining facility structures that are a vital hub for the workforce in a mining camp environment.

Fourteen applications include dining facilities, warehouses, distribution centers, truck shops, there are many uses, in expandable modular sections. “That’s the other great attribute to the product – you can add to it,” Noriega says.

“We have many [structures] on mine sites in very extreme locations from the coast of Chile to the peak of the Andes 4,300 meters above sea,” Noriega adds. “When we have to ship around the world, even the most extreme location is going to have the structure in a few containers, and everything is well organized.”

 “The moment when we arrive on site with the containers, and in every single structure, we provide you with our technical consultant, our membrane guarantee is up to 25 years on the membrane and 50 years on the aluminum substructure.” 

The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by Sprung Structures and produced in co-operation with MINING.COM. Visit www.sprung.com for more information.

Oil and gas giant Shell (LSX: SHEL) is tapping into the mining electrification market with the launch of a consortium that seeks to help miners speed up the adoption of electric trucks and reduces emission without compromising on efficiency or safety.

The British multinational has attracted eight companies working on energy storage, ultrafast charging technologies and renewables to launch an end-to-end, interoperable electrification system pilot for 220 off-road vehicles.

The partners include Skeleton, Microvast, Stäubli, Carnegie Robotics, Heliox, Spirae, Alliance Automation and Worley.

Some of the key components of the power provision and energy management solution come from Alliance Automation, a multi-disciplined industrial automation and electrical engineering company.

Spirae, a technology company that develops solutions for integrating renewable and distributed energy resources within microgrids and power systems, and Skeleton, a global technology leader in fast energy storage, also apported their know-how.

Worley, in turn, is providing expertise in project delivery and consulting services for the resources and energy sectors.

Microvast, a leader in the design, development and manufacture of battery solutions for mobile and stationary applications, leads the in-vehicle energy storage side of things.

The ultra-fast charging element involves solutions from Carnegie Robotics, a provider of rugged sensors, autonomy software and platforms for defence, agriculture, mining, marine, warehouse and energy applications.

Shell described the initiative as being critical since transport equipment comprises up to 50% of mining’s carbon dioxide emissions.

Eight-year plan

By 2030, it is estimated that a battery-electric haulage truck will lower total cost of ownership, involve 20% lower maintenance costs, and 40% lower fuel costs than existing diesel trucks, Shell said.

“It is increasingly clear that no one, single organisation can solve decarbonisation alone,” said Grischa Sauerberg, vice president, sectoral Decarbonization & Innovation at Shell. 

The global company plans to be a net-zero business by 2050 in accordance to climate change strategy laid out in the UN Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit the rise in average global temperature to 1.5° Celsius.

The commercial offering from the partners is expected in 2025. It would follow a pilot solution that will be tested at a Shell facility in Hamburg, Germany, next year, as well as final field trials at selected mine sites in 2024.

Canada’s largest uranium producer Cameco (TSX: CCO) has announced a significant expansion into the nuclear services sector after agreeing to buy U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric with Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE: BEP) in a US$7.9 billion deal, the companies announced on Tuesday.

Brookfield Renewable and its institutional partners will own a 51% interest in Westinghouse, while uranium fuel supplier Cameco will own 49%.

“The partnership of Brookfield and Cameco will help drive forward the growth of nuclear power the world needs for its clean energy transition,” said Brookfield vice chair and head of transition investing Mark Carney in a statement.

The deal combines Cameco’s expertise in the nuclear industry with Brookfield Renewable’s expertise in clean energy and positions atomic power at the heart of the energy transition. It also creates a platform for strategic growth across the nuclear sector.

Among the terms of the deal, Westinghouse’s existing debt structure will remain in place, leaving an estimated US$4.5 billion equity cost to the consortium, subject to closing adjustments. This equity cost will be shared proportionately between Brookfield and its institutional partners (about US$2.3 billion) and Cameco (about US$2.2 billion).