News
19 February 2026Location: Pilgangoora, Western Australia
Partner: PLS Group
Funding: A$20m Australian Government grant under the Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI); A$15m grant from the Western Australian Government via the Investment Attraction Fund (IAF)
Current status: Commissioning
The Lithium Mid-Stream Demonstration Plant represents the first commercial-scale application of Calix’s electric calcination technology. Constructed at PLS’ Pilgangoora Operation in Western Australia, the project aims to demonstrate a novel ‘Mid-Stream’ process to produce a concentrated lithium salt product at the mine-site. The Mid-Stream Demonstration Plant has full production capacity of more than 3,000 tonnes per year of concentrated lithium-phosphate from a feedstock of around 27,000 tonnes per year of spodumene—including lower grade fine spodumene concentrate.
The project aims to demonstrate multiple benefits of Calix’s electric calcination technology for spodumene processing, including:
Collectively, these targeted benefits aim to demonstrate a pathway to lower carbon intensity and value-added critical mineral exports.
Global lithium demand continues to grow rapidly, driven by accelerating demand from the electrification of transport and the deployment of battery energy storage systems. At the same time, supply chains face pressure to improve resilience, reduce energy intensity, and localise value-added processing.
The extraction of lithium from spodumene first requires the spodumene to be calcined at over 1000°C. This process is typically performed in fossil-fuel fired rotary kilns, and is the most carbon-intensive step in the making of lithum-ion batteries.
What’s more, spodumene concentrate is typically about 94% waste rock. The transport of this waste rock from the mine to be processed—typically overseas—adds cost, carbon emissions, and potential environmental impacts.
Spodumene processing at the mine site has the potential to enable the export of higher value, zero waste lithium products, improve lithium recovery and material efficiency, and rationalise transport and supply chain logistics.
The lithium Mid-Stream Demonstration Plant integrates Calix’s patented electric calciner into a novel mid-stream lithium refining flowsheet.
Electric heating replaces fossil-fuel powered rotary kilns, enabling precise temperature control and compatibility with renewable electricity. The process is designed to:
An independent Minviro lifecycle study found that electric calcination powered by photovoltaic electricity could reduce the climate impact of the spodumene calcination step by over 90% compared to coal-fired rotary kiln processing, and by over 80% relative to natural gas fired rotary kilns. In addition, the concentrated product would significantly reduce transport related emissions across the lithium supply chain.
The lithium Mid-Stream Project aims to demonstrate:
The project was developed through a joint venture between Calix and PLS.
The project received funding from the Australian Government via the Modern Manufacturing Initiative.
The project received funding from the Western Australian Government via the Investment Attraction Fund.
PLS have been awarded funding of up $38.08m from ARENA to support operations of the Mid-Stream Demonstration Plant via the Advancing Renewables Program.
Following the completion of construction of the Demonstration Plant, Calix and PLS revised the commercialisation structure for the Mid-Stream lithium technology. Under the revised structure, PLS assume full ownership, funding and operational responsibility for the Demonstration Plant, and repay Calix’s net capital contribution to the project. PLS also receives a royalty free licence for use of the Calix technology in spodumene calcination at its operations.
The revised structure is intended to simplify governance, align capital and risk, improve execution certainty and support the continued advancement and commercialisation of the technology. Following the restructure, PLS executed a grant of up to $38.08m from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to support an estimated total project cost of $139.21m for commissioning and operations until 31 July 2028.
Calix and PLS continue to collaborate on the commissioning and operations phase of the Demonstration Project and can jointly or independently licence the Calix electric calcination technology to third parties for primary lithium processing applications.
Through strong partnerships with governments, research institutions, and industry leaders, Calix is accelerating the development and commercialisation of its core platform technology to help decarbonise the world’s most energy-intensive industries.
Calix is solving global challenges in industrial decarbonisation and sustainability.
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