(Reuters) -Brief dealer J Capital Analysis on Monday alleged that Lake Assets NL’s plan to supply lithium in Argentina is in keeping with a procedure from Lilac Answers Inc that most probably does now not paintings, the most recent assault towards a wave of latest applied sciences aiming to supply the electrical car battery steel.
Stocks of Lake, that are traded in Australia, fell 6.3% on Monday after J Capital’s document https://www.jcapitalresearch.com/uploads/2/0/0/3/20032477/2022_07_11_lke.pdf defined a number of alleged missteps by way of Lake’s control and claimed that expertise advanced by way of Lilac is simply too expensive to run and makes use of an excessive amount of freshwater.
Privately-held Lilac is without doubt one of the most-prominent builders of so-called direct lithium extraction (DLE) applied sciences aiming to extract the battery steel from brine the usage of a spread of apparatus, although none have labored at industrial scale. (Complete tale) https://www.reuters.com/enterprise/sustainable-business/new-lithium-technology-can-help-world-go-green-if-it-works-2022-04-07 (Complete tale) https://www.reuters.com/article/mining-lithium-technology-idCNL1N2UK302
“Lake has hitched its cart to Lilac’s yet-to-be-proven expertise,” J Capital Analysis mentioned within the 17-page document. “Buyers nonetheless don’t have any proof that the Lilac DLE expertise works at scale, and if this is the case, at what value.”
Lilac signed a care for Lake ultimate September to grow the Kachi lithium mission in Argentina, a part of a plan to conform from a expertise corporate to a lithium manufacturer. . https://www.reuters.com/enterprise/sustainable-business/australias-lake-resources-teams-up-with-clean-tech-firm-lilac-develop-argentina-2021-09-21/#:~:textual content=MELBOURNEpercent2Cpercent20Septpercent2022percent20(Reuters),rocketingpercent20morepercent20thanpercent2020percent25percent20higher
In April, Ford Motor Co signed a initial lithium provide care for Lake. (Complete tale) https://www.reuters.com/article/ford-motor-lithium-lake-resources-idCAKCN2M31K1
Representatives for Lake may just now not instantly be reached for remark. J Capital declined to expose the scale of its quick place.
Lilac’s expertise makes use of ceramic beads to draw lithium in batch cycles, comparable to a laundry gadget, and then a water-and-acid aggregate is used to scrub off the steel.
J Capital alleges within the document that the beads best paintings for 150 cycles, making Lake’s mission uneconomical.
Lilac Leader Govt Dave Snydacker mentioned that determine is “factually erroneous” and that his corporate has examined the beads at greater than 1,000 cycles.
“I do not know the place they were given that quantity from. Perhaps they are guessing,” Snydacker informed Reuters, including his corporate expects to ship a pilot plant to Lake’s Kachi website by way of the tip of the month.
“We’ve a top level of self assurance that our plant will likely be a hit as a result of we have supported the design with such a lot check paintings.”
(Reporting by way of Ernest ScheyderEditing by way of Marguerita Choy)
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