Standard Lithium said the company's industrial-scale lithium carbonate SiFT crystallisation plant can start the initial lithium carbonate crystallisation work as the commissioning phase has been successfully completed.

All hot and cold hydraulic and filtering systems have operated successfully; real-time laser microscopy and crystal photoanalytical tools have been installed, and control systems have been tested, it said.

"Standard Lithium continues to execute on our key project milestones; we have successfully started and operated the industrial scale DLE plant in Arkansas, and now we are starting up our next-generation lithium carbonate crystallisation plant," said Andy Robinson, president and chief operating officer.

The company added that its pre-commercial DKE Demonstration Plant at LANXESS' South Plant facility in southern Arkansas has also been producing concentrated lithium chloride product since late May.

This pre-commercial plant, which uses Standard Lithium's proprietary LiSTR DLE technology, has been operating on a 24/7 basis using tail-brine feed from an existing facility run by speciality chemicals company LANXESS. 

The initial crystallisation work this week will use a lithium chloride solution that was produced last year by the Company's mini-pilot DLE Plant, that operated continuously at the testing firm SGS's testing facility in Ontario - albeit using lithium chloride solution produced from Arkansas brine.