EMP METALS CORP. EMP Metals Corp. announced the commencement and commissioning of its Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) Field Pilot Facility (the Facility) located in Estevan, Saskatchewan. The Facility represents the first Koch Technology Solutions (KTS) DLE pilot skid to be commissioned and operated in Canada.
The operation of the Facility will closely resemble field operating conditions, receiving high lithium concentration feed brine from the Viewfield area. Swab testing in the area has tested lithium concentrations upwards of 259 mg/L in one of the targeted zones. The Facility also features a pre- filtration skid and a heater skid designed by Saltworks Technologies to deliver on spec feed brine at elevated temperatures of approximately 60 degrees Celsius.
The Facility is expected to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, over the next few months to gather valuable performance data that will provide the foundation for continued detailed engineering work on the stage 1 commercial facility. Initially, the Facility operated over several days with lab results confirming the feed brine is meeting required specifications and the DLE skid is optimized for lithium recovery. The Facility will process approximately 4,500 L per day of feed brine.
The lower daily throughput is representative of higher lithium concentrations in the feed brine. This results in lower volume required to fully load the pilot column with lithium on each cycle. Average feed brine lithium concentrations of 185 mg/L have been confirmed through third party lab testing and is representative of the producing zones isolated for the pilot testing.
