Stria Lithium's Pontax Project Achieves Initial Results of 6.3% Li2O From Spodumene Concentrate With an 85% Overall Recovery After Metallurgical Testing
Supports the Viability of Pontax Spodumene as Feedstock for the Company's Proprietary Process for Producing Lithium Metal and High Grade Lithium Compounds
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 24, 2016) - Stria Lithium Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SRA) ("Stria" or the "Company") is pleased to report metallurgical test results from bulk samples extracted from its wholly owned Pontax lithium project in Northern Quebec.
Stria President and Chief Operating Officer Iain Todd said the testing produced a surprisingly favourable result supporting the Company's decision to continue its investigation and exploration of the Pontax property.
'These initial test results confirm additional exploration is justified and the spodumene mineralisation at Pontax is a viable feedstock for our proprietary technologies for the recovery of lithium metal and high grade lithium compounds, " said Dr. Todd.
The Company is focused on the phased development of its lithium property while concurrently aiming to generate early revenues from the manufacture of in-demand lithium products intended for next generation Lithium-Ion battery applications.
Towards its commercial goals, Stria has positioned itself as a partner in the 2GL Platform business alliance announced on May 18, 2016. (www.2GLPlatform.com).
Stria benefits from the integration of battery innovation from four leading critical materials development companies.
The Company holds the in-house developed and proprietary technologies that remove upstream obstacles to enable downstream production of lithium metal, lithium carbonate or hydroxide using conventional metallurgical processes.
The purpose of the metallurgical testing on 16.5 metric tonnes of spodumene mineralized material from the Pontax property, performed by SGS Canada Ltd. in Lakefield, Ontario, was intended to confirm the feasibility of Pontax' spodumene mineralized material as a potential supply source for Stria's proprietary lithium production process.
Metallurgical Results
Samples were processed by dense medium separation (DMS) with a feed size of -6.35+0.85mm to concentrate lithium minerals (primarily spodumene) and to reject silicate gangue minerals.
Initial dense media separation testing produced an intermediate spodumene concentrate assaying 5.9% Li2O with 47.9% lithium recovery. This intermediate spodumene concentrate was further upgraded to 6.4% Li2O using dry magnetic separation of the concentrate.
Material finer than 0.850 mm that could not be processed by dense media separation was combined with the dense media separation middlings to be further upgraded by flotation. Locked cycle flotation testing produced a spodumene concentrate assaying 6.1% Li2O with a 84% Li2O flotation recovery.
In summary, the combined dense media separation - magnetic separation - flotation flowsheet (based on the flotation locked cycle test results) produced a combined concentrate assaying 6.3% Li2O with an 85% overall lithium recovery.
A summer exploration/geophysical survey program is now planned at the Pontax site to further explore the overall breadth of the spodumene bearing host rock and to identify drill targets for a more extensive drilling program in 2017.
About Stria's Proprietary Process
An initial roasting produces the β-spodumene used for Stria's process. Within a closed loop containing chloride compounds, the β-spodumene is mixed in a proprietary process environment. Impurities including iron, magnesium, vanadium, chrome, aluminum and silicates are eliminated, producing a high-purity lithium chloride concentrate.
The unique advantage of Stria's process is that it removes upstream obstacles to enable downstream production of lithium metal, lithium carbonate or hydroxide using conventional metallurgical processes.
Stria's process obviates the need for additional, cost-heavy refinery steps, making it economically competitive.
Moreover, the process permits the recycling and repeated re-use of chemicals, returning them to the start of the process -using fewer chemicals results in lower costs and effectively lowers the process's environmental footprint.
About 2GL Platform
2GL Platform is a strategic green energy business alliance that integrates graphene, graphite, lithium and battery innovation for next generation energy creation and storage.
The collaborative partnership unifies the development of materials, technologies and processes critical for next generation energy applications under a shared vision and direction. The partnership includes:
Grafoid Inc., a world-leading graphene research, development and investment company that invests in, manages and develops markets for processes that produce economically scalable graphene for use in graphene applications. (www.grafoid.com)
Focus Graphite Inc., an emerging graphite mining development company with the objective of producing value-added products for the lithium-ion battery market and graphite for graphene enhanced applications and products. (www.focusgraphite.com)
Stria Lithium Inc., a junior mining exploration company with an expanding technology focus in lithium metal and foil. (www.strialithium.com)
Braille Battery Inc., a leading manufacturer and seller of ultra-lightweight high performance AGM and lithium-ion batteries. (www.braillebattery.com)
2GL Platform's website can be found at: www.2GLPlatform.com
About Stria Lithium Inc.
Stria Lithium Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SRA) is a Canadian junior mining exploration company with an expanding technology focus and is also the sole owner of the Pontax spodumene lithium property in Northern Quebec. Stria's mission is to be a reliable, profitable global source for both lithium metal and lithium compound products and process technologies for producing value added lithium products.
Stria's expanded business focus is on the application of in-house developed technologies and processes that lead to the production and milling of lithium metal and lithium metal foil for advanced lithium batteries.
From the production of lithium metal also comes the value added production of: lithium hydroxide; lithium carbonate; lithium fluoride, and; lithium chloride.
Lithium is a critical metal in the universal fight against global warming. It is a core component of Lithium-Ion batteries used for powering electric vehicles and for industrial scale energy storage.
Stria Lithium Inc. is part of the 2GL Platform green energy technology strategic alliance with Grafoid Inc., Focus Graphite Inc., and Braille Battery Inc.
Qualified Person
Mr. Oliver Peters, M.Sc., P.Eng, MBA, (Consulting Metallurgist for SGS and Principal Metallurgist of Metpro Management Inc.) is an Independent Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, and has reviewed and approved the metallurgical information of the SGS testwork provided in this news release.
Forward-Looking Statement
This news release may contain forward-looking statements, being statements that are not historical facts, and discussions of future plans and objectives. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove accurate. Such statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those anticipated or projected. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are in our documents filed from time to time with the TSX Venture Exchange and provincial securities regulators, most of which are available at www.sedar.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the accuracy of this release.
Contact
Stria Lithium Inc.
Iain Todd
President & COO
613 241-4040
itodd@strialithium.com
www.strialithium.com
