Enabling sustainable, secure and cost-effective critical mineral processing with electric calcination.
Opportunity & challenges
They provide essential material inputs to a wide range of industries that are pivotal to clean energy technologies and a successful transition to net zero. Critical minerals are also vital for domestic and regional energy security, for national defence and economic security.
As global decarbonisation efforts, supply chain pressures and geopolitical tensions manifest, the critical minerals industry faces a period of significant risk and disruption. It also faces a moment of considerable opportunity.
Opportunity & challenges
The industry faces a dual challenge. It must rapidly increase the supply of the minerals required to enable global decarbonisation efforts, and at the same time, drastically reduce the carbon footprint and other environmental impacts associated with their production.
The transition to sustainable mineral processing, however, is not just an environmental imperative. It is a strategic opportunity. By embracing this opportunity, the critical minerals industry can significantly reduce its environmental impact, and benefit from the global tailwinds that support premium green mineral products.
Our solution
The technology uses externally heated calciner tubes to deliver radiative heat to the raw material. It processes fines and eliminates waste to improve ore recovery and operating economics, and reduce environmental impacts.
Calix’s technology aims to enable a transition from a “dig-it and ship-it” approach to processing and beneficiation at the mine site. Ultimately, it is designed to enable mineral producers to dramatically reduce the carbon intensity of their products, while creating and capturing more value from their mineral resources.
Electric calcination can enable the use of up to 100% renewably sourced power and deliver a vast reduction in carbon emission intensity of the lithium product. For lithium, Calix’s electric calciner can deliver emissions reductions of 80-90% compared with conventional rotary kilns.
Unlike traditional kiln processing, the Calix electric calciner provides 20-30 zones of temperature control per tube to deliver optimised temperature profiles for a given mineral. Particles are precisely heated to drive the desired physical or chemical transformation whilst avoiding sintering or melting, improving extraction rates and efficiency.
Calix’s electric calciner is targeting lower capital and operating costs compared with conventional calcining processes.
A concentrated and near zero-waste lithium product will allow waste material to be left at the mine site, providing further cost and emissions savings through reduced and simplified transport and logistics.
A lithium rich product produced at the mine site may enable more value to be captured onshore at the mineral resource.
With countries around the world considering their sovereign capability to source critical mineral products, sustainable downstream processing at the mine-site can create further value for trading partners by securing supplies and mitigating geopolitical risks.
By refining and concentrating the mineral product at source, producers can mitigate challenges such as long distances to export infrastructure or customers, potentially unlocking remote hard-rock assets globally.
Projects
Through strong global partnerships and collaboration with industry, academia and governments, Calix is accelerating the development and commercialisation of its core platform technology to urgently solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges. We recognise and thank each of our partners for their vital contributions.
Calix is solving global challenges in industrial decarbonisation and sustainability.
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Acknowledgement of Country
Calix acknowledges the First Nations and Indigenous People of the land on which we live and work, and recognises their deep, ongoing connection to the land, waters and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations and Indigenous People.
Sustainability Statement
At Calix, sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability sits at the core of Calix’s purpose: solving global challenges in industrial decarbonisation and sustainability. Because Mars is for quitters.
Social Inclusion Statement
Calix is committed to fostering fairness and belonging. We believe everyone should feel safe, respected and valued for who they are. Inclusivity is one of our core values and we actively work to create an environment where all people can feel safe and thrive, contribute meaningfully and feel a sense of belonging.
Product Description
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