Calix and Pilbara Minerals Project awarded a $20m grant

Calix is pleased to announce the award of a $20 million grant under the Australian Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) – Manufacturing Translation Stream, towards the development of the Mid-Stream Project at the Pilgangoora Project.

The MMI grant represents a significant step forward in the progression of the Mid-Stream Project, which will be used as part of a proposed Joint Venture to be entered between Calix and Pilbara Minerals to support the design, procurement, construction, and commissioning of the Mid-Stream Project Demonstration Plant (Demonstration Plant).

Highlights:

• Pilbara Minerals, with its project partner Calix, has been awarded a $20 million grant from the Australian Government under the Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) – Manufacturing Translation Stream, supporting the further development and demonstration of the proposed “Mid-Stream Project”.
• Grant funding will be used as part of a joint venture to be entered into between Pilbara Minerals and Calix for the progression of a demonstration scale chemicals facility at the Pilgangoora Project – with the aim of producing lithium salts for global distribution via an innovative midstream “value added” refining process.
• The MMI grant will assist the Mid-Stream Project in its efforts to deliver significant benefits across the industry including:
  • increased downstream “value-add” realisation within the Australian economy,
  • significant sustainability benefits across the lithium industry via electrification of the “value-added” process (including spodumene calcining), thereby enabling a decarbonisation pathway, as well as rationalisation of the carbon footprint via reduced waste movements across transport and logistics supply chains from a near zero-waste final product,
  • maximising Australian hard-rock lithium resources via improved lithium recovery, as the innovative refining process should enable treatment of very fine spodumene concentrates at lower lithia grades, which have traditionally been problematic for calcination in conventional direct-fired horizontal rotary calciners.
• Pilbara Minerals and Calix are well progressed in negotiations in relation to the formation of a Joint Venture for the future development of a small-scale Demonstration Plant, with the Parties targeting to sign in early Q3 2022.