Le lithium, le prix en baisse aprés la flambée.

[energy_isere]

Gradiant launches lithium production facility from oilfield-produced water in Pennsylvania
This project will utilise the company's proprietary EC² technology to deliver battery-grade lithium carbonate.

June 25, 2025


The facility is currently undergoing testing, with impressive results including 97% lithium recovery and 99.5% purity levels for battery-grade lithium carbonate. Credit: Gradiant/Business Wire.

Water and resource recovery company Gradiant’s alkaLi division has unveiled plans to design, build, own and operate a lithium production facility in the Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania.

The project is claimed to be the world’s first such lithiThe vertically integrated approach of the Pennsylvania facility aims to secure a stable US lithium supply and circumvent common project delays.

The facility is currently undergoing testing, with impressive results including 97% lithium recovery and 99.5% purity levels for battery-grade lithium carbonate. Full commercial operations are set to commence in early 2026.

Gradiant CEO Anurag Bajpayee said: “We now have a fully operational lithium production asset in the US that proves what EC² can deliver. This isn’t a concept – it is a live facility demonstrating that clean, domestic lithium production is both viable and scalable.

“Our goal isn’t to compete with customers, but to empower them – and the broader industry – to meet surging demand for battery-grade lithium and accelerate the clean energy transition. This strategic investment in the Marcellus Shale, which could supply 50% of US lithium demand, validates the maturity of alkaLi’s technology and secures a long-term domestic supply.”um production facility to produce lithium from oilfield-produced water.

This facility will implement the company’s proprietary Extract, Concentrate and Convert (EC²) technology to deliver battery-grade lithium carbonate.

The initiative follows the successful launch of alkaLi’s EC² platform last year, which promises at least 95% lithium recovery at customer sites.

The patented EC² process integrates direct lithium extraction (DLE), concentration and conversion into a singular, efficient system.

This method boasts up to 50% lower capital and operational costs, modular designs for swift global implementation, AI-optimised performance and reduced environmental impact, all while offering flexibility in feedwater sources.

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[energy_isere]

La Chine pourrait dépasser l'Australie qui est le premier producteur mondial de Lithium dés 2026 :

China to overtake Australia as world’s top lithium miner by 2026, Fastmarkets says

Reuters | June 25, 2025


Lakkor Tso is one of the few large, high-quality lithium brine deposits in China. (Image courtesy of Zijin Mining.)

China by next year will overtake Australia as the world’s top miner of the battery metal lithium, according to a forecast from consultancy Fastmarkets, and its market prowess is expected to grow through 2035 even as many Chinese producers remain unprofitable.

The projections are the latest data point underscoring Beijing’s commanding presence across the global metals supply chain, with China the dominant miner or refiner of more than half the minerals considered critical by the US Geological Survey.

“China’s got a very clear strategy to develop its mineral resources,” Paul Lusty, the consultancy’s head of battery raw materials research, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Fastmarkets Lithium and Battery Raw Materials Conference in Las Vegas.

Australia has been the world’s largest lithium miner since taking that spot from Chile in 2017, but Australian miners have curtailed production or delayed expansions amid a global drop in lithium prices.

By next year, Chinese miners are likely to extract 8,000 to 10,000 more metric tons of lithium than Australian rivals, according to the Fastmarkets forecast. That would be a jump from 2023, when China was the world’s third-largest lithium producer.

By 2035, Chinese miners are likely to extract 900,000 metric tons of lithium, compared to Australia’s 680,000 metric tons, Chile’s 435,000 metric tons and Argentina’s 380,000 metric tons, according to the forecast.

Much of China’s growth has and likely will continue to come from mining a type of hard rock ore known as lepidolite, which is prolific in the southern part of the country.

China’s lepidolite mining is more costly than extracting lithium from salty brines and can cause more environmental harm due to toxic by-products such as thallium and tantalum that pollute water supplies.

China’s lithium miners have been reticent to cut production due to support from the Chinese government, “pressure” from local municipalities to keep operations open – and thus local jobs, and a desire to maintain market share as demand for the metal rises, Lusty said.

“This continued production – despite the lack of profitability within the market – starts to make a lot more sense when you consider all those factors,” he said.

Chinese battery giant CATL is one of the largest producers of lepidolite and had paused production at a key mine last September before resuming output in February.

Beyond mining, China for years has been the world’s largest refiner of the ultralight metal, with roughly 70% market share. Lithium refineries turn the metal into a form that can be used to make cathodes for batteries.

Efforts by other countries to grow their own lithium refining should cut China’s market share to 60% by 2035, Fastmarkets forecasts.

China’s market prowess also extends to electric vehicle supply chain, with more than 60% of all EVs globally sold last year in that country, according to data from battery producer LG Energy Solutions.

https://www.mining.com/web/china-to-ove ... kets-says/