Published: Thursday, 05 February 2015 on indmin.com
Simbol says that it is now seeking investors to help it commercialise its lithium production. However, EnergySource, the provider of its brines, says that it will take a different management team to realise the potential of Simbol’s lithium extraction process.
US-based Simbol Materials LLC has ceased activity at its Hudson Ranch geothermal lithium carbonate plant in Calipatria, California, US, and made 40 of its workers redundant.
Simbol said that operations have been inactive since December 2014.
"We completed the engineering studies and we are now in the mode of collecting investment infrastructures," Simbol’s CFO, Pete Sunada told IM.
"We thought we did not need to spend any more money on the operation at this point in time," Sunada said, adding, "nobody would start an investment discussion once the engineering is completed. It goes in parallel so it is ongoing," Sunada explained.
However, according to EnergySource, a renewable energy company that has provided Simbol with the geothermal brine used to test its lithium-extraction process, Simbol ran out of funds for the operations.
"We understand that last week, Simbol terminated senior management and most of the staff," Dave Watson, EnergySources CEO, told IM.
"Remaining Simbol employees are currently in the process of shuttering the demonstration facility they operate adjacent to our John Featherstone geothermal plant," Watson added.
Amongst those made redundant was David Edwards, Simbol's director of manufacturing. He follows Simbol’s CEO John Burba, who resigned last week.
Watson said that while EnergySource was disappointed with the latest news from Simbol, he said it was not surprised.
He told IM that previous management had failed to effectively implement the strategies necessary to achieve lithium extraction at the Hudson Ranch project, despite using "proven" technologies.
"We remain hopeful that new ownership and management sees the potential of the Simbol technology and we stand ready to support a new effort that demonstrates good prospects for success," Watson said.
Simbol’s plans
Last month, Simbol said that it would start construction on its first commercial lithium extraction plant at Salton Sea in California’s Imperial Valley, according to local newspaper The Desert Sun.
It said it wanted to produce 16,000 tpa lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) from its 50MW power plant.
Simbol has already demonstrated its geothermal method at the plant, which will extract lithium, manganese and zinc to be transformed into materials suitable for batteries by using by-products from the plant, such as CO₂, waste water and condensate. According to Simbol, this is less dependent on weather conditions than the solar evaporation technique used by the majority of lithium brine producers.
"We believe Simbol’s technology is viable and proven at the demonstration facility," Watson told IM.
Watson suggested that new ownership would be the best option for company to realise its commercial objectives.
"We would expect a new ownership team to pursue a purchase of Simbol and its assets, as well as a transaction with EnergySource," Watson added.
In 2011, Simbol began operating its high-purity lithium carbonate demo plant and has already provided manufacturers with lithium carbonate and hydroxide to be tested in the cathodes of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries.
Towards the end of 2013, the company succeeded in producing lithium carbonate with a purity in excess of 99.9% using geothermal brine at its demonstration plant located near the Salton Sea.
The brine Simbol will be using is rich in sodium chloride, meaning it can avoiding buying in soda ash as a feedstock ingredient. It says that because the plant is close to sea-level and to port means that it doesn’t have to ship brines to a secondary processing facility.
The company is seeking to supply the electric vehicles (EV), energy storage applications and electronic goods markets that are after Li-ion batteries. It is anticipating a massive growth in demand from the Asian market.
In 2010, Japanese trading house Itochu Corp. acquired a minority stake in Simbol securing the sole rights to market Simbol’s future products in Asia.
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