The Neometals Ltd [ASX:NMT] share price is trading slightly down today after releasing news on their lithium-ion battery recycling demonstration plant.
Neometals is focused on minerals and materials used in electric vehicles and energy storage. They are involved in several projects including lithium-ion battery recycling, a Vanadium recovery project, and lithium refinery.
What did Neometals announce today?
Neometals said it has successfully commissioned stage 1 of their battery recycling demonstration trials. This is the ‘front-end’ shredding and beneficiation circuit of its lithium-ion recycling demonstration plant.
The recycling plant is a joint venture with Primobius GmbH of which they both own 50%. The demonstration plant is in Hilchenbach, Germany, in a building currently leased by Primobius.
The company said that stage 1 consists of the physical removal of metal electrodes, plastic separators, and casings. This produces ‘black mass’, a combination of cathode and anode materials that can go into stage 2 refining. So far, they’ve produced about 1.5 tons of black mass.
The demonstration plant’s stage 2 involves a ‘back-end’ hydrometallurgical refining circuit which the company said is now going through mechanical and electrical installation.
The company highlighted the importance of a ‘fully integrated and continued’ trial because it:
‘Constitutes one of the key evaluation activities required for the JV owners to make an investment decision relating to construction of Primobius’ first commercial LIB recycling plant. Safe commissioning of the DP Front-end is a significant step for Primobius as it can now move towards trialling activities with tested systems, including safety, that have been run in real-world conditions.’
What could happen next to the NMT Share Price?
The company expects to commission stage 2 in September 2021 and to finish all the trials by November this year.
They then expect to complete the feasibility study by March 2022 and start commercial scale operations around a year later.
While this is good news, at time of writing the share price is down 1.18%, at 84 cents. It could be that it’s pulling back after Neometal’s share price took off yesterday, increasing 11% after announcing they had successfully finished trials at their vanadium recovery pilot plant.
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Best,
Selva Freigedo,
For Money Morning
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