International Journal of Mineral Processing 102–103 (2012) 45–50

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International Journal of Mineral Processing

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Processing of a Zimbabwean petalite to obtain lithium carbonate

O. Sitando ⁎, P.L. Crouse
Fluoro-Materials Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Road, Pretoria 0002, South Africa

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Processing of petalite concentrate from the Bikita deposits in Zimbabwe for production of high-purity Li2CO3
Received 6 May 2011 has been studied. XRF and ICP-OES analysis showed that the concentrate consists of oxides of Li, Si, and Al as
Received in revised form 6 September 2011 major components, with an average Li2O content of 4.10%. XRD examination confirmed that the sample is a
Accepted 25 September 2011
petalite. Processing of the petalite involves roasting the pre-heated concentrate with concentrated H2SO4 fol-
Available online 1 October 2011
lowed by water leaching of the resulting Li2SO4, solution purification and precipitation of Li2CO3. The effects
Keywords:
of roasting temperature, stirring speed, solid to liquid ratio, leaching temperature and time on the lithium
Petalite dissolution are reported. The dissolution rates are significantly influenced by roasting temperature and
Lithium stirring speed. Water-washed lithium carbonate with a purity of 99.21% (metal basis) was produced.
Lithium extraction Synthesised and commercial Li2CO3 samples were characterised and compared using X-ray diffraction
Lithium carbonate (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).
Bikita Minerals © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction expansion as well as viscosity (Ebensperger et al., 2005; Garrett,

2004). Lithium and its compounds have recently found use in energy
Lithium is found in minerals, lake brines, clays, seawater and oil storage devices such as rechargeable lithium- ion batteries (Brandt
residues. The commercial sources of lithium are minerals, brines and Haus, 2010).
and seawater (Amouzegar et al., 2000). The lithium minerals of eco- In the aluminium industry, lithium carbonate is added during
nomic importance are spodumene (LiAlSi2O6), petalite (LiAlSi4O10), electrolysis of alumina (Al2O3) to lower the melting point of the cryo-
lepidolite ((Li,Al)3(Al,Si)4O10(F,OH)2), amblygonite (Li,Al(F,OH)PO4) lite bath, allowing a lower operating temperature for the cells, in-
and zinnawaldite (K(Li,Al,Fe)3(Al,Si)4O10F2) (Kondás and Jandová, creasing the electrical conductivity, decreasing the bath viscosity,
2006; Wietelmann and Bauer, 2003; Demirbaş, 1998). reducing the consumption of cryolite, reducing the consumption of
In Zimbabwe, petalite deposits are found in the Bikita area east of anode carbons, and reducing fluorine emissions from the electrolytic
Masvingo. Pegmatite deposits in Zimbabwe contain significant amounts cells (Ober, 2007; Ebensperger et al., 2005; Nicholson, 1978). High-
of lithium and are one of the world's largest lithium deposits (Veasey, purity lithium carbonate is used in the treatment of manic-depressive
1997). Zimbabwe is among the largest producers of lithium concentrate psychosis (Ober, 2007) and production of electronic grade crystals of
in the world. Jaskula (2010) reported that major producers of lithium lithium niobate (Amouzegar et al., 2000).
concentrates are Australia, Canada, Zimbabwe, and Portugal. Lithium Processing of lithium minerals relies on chemical roasting of the
deposits at Bikita were estimated at 23,000 mt Li in 2009 (Jaskula, concentrate with the use of sulphuric acid (Kondás and Jandová,
2010). Other minor lithium deposits in Zimbabwe occur in the 2006; Wietelmann and Bauer, 2003), hydrochloric acid (Wietelmann
Insiza, Matobo, Mazoe, Mutoko, Harare, Mutare, Kamativi and Hwange and Bauer, 2003), limestone and or lime (Wietelmann and Bauer,
districts (Cooper, 1964). Petalite is one source from which lithium 2003), sodium and or potassium salts and calcium sulphate with cal-
is produced commercially (Garrett, 2004). cium hydroxide (Kondás and Jandová, 2006). The objective of all the
Lithium carbonate is the precursor for all other lithium com- processing techniques is to convert lithium minerals into soluble
pounds including lithium chloride, a raw material for lithium metal form. Roasting of lithium minerals with H2SO4 gives a high yield of
production (Jandová et al., 2010). Its oldest application is in the lithium and has favourable energy consumption compared with
glass and ceramic industry. The addition of lithium carbonate in other processes (Wietelmann and Bauer, 2003). In addition, H2SO4
glass and ceramic production lowers the process melting point, re- is cheaper and easier to handle than HCl. Roasting with HCl is not
duces energy consumption, increases furnace refractory life, improves attractive because of complexity of purification. Wietelmann and
the strength of the glass product, reduces the coefficient of thermal Bauer (2003) reported that the alkaline process and other processes
have a relatively high energy requirement and give a lithium yield
appreciably below that of the sulphuric acid process.
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: + 27 12 420 6431, + 27 76 507 9493 (mobile). Jaskula (2008) reported that the global market for lithium-ion
E-mail address: onsitando@gmail.com (O. Sitando). batteries has increased by more than 20% per year in the past few

0301-7516/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.minpro.2011.09.014
46 O. Sitando, P.L. Crouse / International Journal of Mineral Processing 102–103 (2012) 45–50

years and that the use of lithium batteries in upcoming electric temperature and ground to less than 75 μm. Reaction of β-spodu-
and hybrid vehicles could further increase demand for the metal. mene with H2SO4 is shown in Eq. (1) (Mcketta, 1988).
The growing demand for lithium to meet the raw material needs of
the energy storage devices is one of the reasons for studying the Li2 O:A12 O3 :4SiO2ðsÞ þ H2 SO4ðconcÞ →Li2 SO4ðsÞ þ A12 O3 :4SiO2ðsÞ þ H2 OðgÞ
upgrading of Zimbabwean petalite into Li2CO3. In addition there is ð1Þ
very limited work or published data, particularly on the chemical
leaching and processing of Zimbabwean petalite. One major work is 2.3.4. Leaching studies
that of Cooper (1964), which was preliminary in nature and was on This study discusses the conditions such as temperature, leaching
the geology of Bikita pegmatite and petalite characterisation. The time, solid/liquid ratio and stirring rate which affect leaching of lithium.
work presented here is thus expected to be of interest. Leaching experiments were performed in a 600 mL flat-bottomed pyrex
This study gives detailed data on the characterisation, concentrate glass beaker as a reactor. Accurately measured volume of distilled water
roasting with H2SO4, subsequent water leaching of the resulting (150 mL) was added to the reactor and heated to the desired tempera-
Li2SO4, solution purification, and precipitation of Li2CO3. ture within ±1 °C by a thermostatically controlled hot plate magnetic
stirrer at atmospheric pressure. A teflon coated stirring bar was used.
2. Materials and methods When the temperature reached the pre-set value and remained stable,
the acid roasted product was added to the reactor and heated together
2.1. Materials with the water. During leaching, samples were withdrawn at selected
time interval. After various leaching experiments had been conducted,
Laboratory tests were carried out with a petalite concentrate, ICP testing was done to calculate the extraction rate.
as received from Bikita Minerals (Pvt) Ltd in Zimbabwe. A multi-
element standard (ICP grade) and analytical grades Na2CO3, H2SO4,
2.3.5. Solution purification
HCl, CaCO3 and Ca(OH)2 from Merck Chemicals (Pty) Ltd were used.
Acid roasting and leaching of petalite concentrate is not entirely
Distilled water was used in the preparation of all aqueous solutions.
selective as co-dissolution of impurities also occurs. The resulting
leach liquor contains aluminium, calcium, magnesium, iron and
2.2. Instrumentation
other impurities which can be removed by pH control and addition
of a carbonate (Averill and Olson, 1977). CaCO3 was added little by
The following instruments were used in this study: for X-ray fluores-
little to the acidic leach solution at laboratory temperature to obtain
cence (XRF) a Thermo ARL9400 XP instrument; for inductively coupled
a pH of 5.5–6.5. At this pH Fe and Al were precipitated and the cake
plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) a SPECTRO ARCOS; for
was filtered and washed with water. Mg was precipitated using Ca
X-ray diffractometry (XRD) a PANalytical X'Pert PRO diffractometer; for
(OH)2 and filtered. The filtrate was treated with Na2CO3 at 25 °C
mass measurements a Mettler PM2000MC balance; for pH measure-
which produced a pH between 11 and 12. Na2CO3 equivalent to the
ments a pH meter cripson GLP 21; and for thermogravimetric analysis
amount of calcium present was added. This precipitated the Ca,
(TGA) a TA instrument DSC-TGA SDT Q600.
which was removed by filtration. The flow sheet of the purification
procedure is shown in Fig. 1. A pH meter was used during the proce-
2.3. Methods
dure for the pH value analysis. ICP-OES was used to determine the
concentration of lithium and impurities at each stage. Reproducibility
2.3.1. Particle size analysis
of the process was tested by running the experiments in triplicate.
Dry sieving was performed on a 100.00 g sample of petalite concen-
Errors for each were below 3%. The purified solution was adjusted to
trate to determine particle size distribution using a Fritsch-sieve shaker,
pH 7–8 using H2SO4 (1 mol L −1) in order to precipitate the carbonate
with universal test sieves SABS ISO 310. Masses were determined with
(Kamiensiki et al., 2005).
an analytical balance.

2.3.2. Characterisation of the concentrate 2.3.6. Precipitation of lithium from leach liquor
Elemental analysis of the concentrate was done using XRF and The purified leach solution was evaporated to about 50% of its
ICP-OES. The petalite sample was dissolved completely using a original volume and filtered to remove the calcium residue. The evap-
method adapted from Stoch (1986) to determine % Li2O content. oration process was continued until the concentration of Li was
0.5 g of petalite was decomposed by HF-H2SO4 followed by dissolution more than 11 g L −1. A hot saturated solution of Na2CO3 was added
of soluble salts by boiling with water. XRD analysis was performed drop-wise to the filtrate at 95–100 °C giving a white precipitate of
using Fe filtered CoKα as a radiation source. The phases were identified Li2CO3. The precipitate was filtered and washed thoroughly with
using X'Pert Highscore Plus software. The semi-quantitative phase water (95–100 °C) to remove residual Na2SO4 and excess Na2CO3.
amounts (weight %) was estimated using the reference intensity The water-washed Li2CO3 was dried at 250 °C. The flow sheet
method in the X'Pert Highscore Plus software. for the lithium recovery procedure is shown in Fig. 2. Changes of
the lithium and impurity concentration during the processing
2.3.3. Calcination and roasting of petalite of leach liquor were recorded by means of ICP. Na2SO4 in the mother
The finely powdered petalite concentrate was first heated in a lab- liquor was crystallised by chilling the solution at 0–8 °C followed by
oratory furnace at 1100 °C for 2 h with exact temperature regulation. pressure filtration (Garrett, 2004). The filtrate which contains some
Heating petalite to high temperatures results in an irreversible phase lithium and residual Na2CO3 was recycled to the evaporator.
change to a β-spodumene-SiO2 solid solution which is more reactive
to acid and base attack (Wietelmann and Bauer, 2003; Kamiensiki 2.3.7. Characterisation of lithium carbonate
et al., 2005; Garrett, 2004). A weighed amount of ground pre-heated The dried Li2CO3 was subjected to phase, thermal and chemical
petalite sample was mixed with concentrated H2SO4 in a porcelain analysis. Phase and thermal analysis was done by XRD and TGA re-
crucible. An amount of acid 15% in excess of the lithium equivalent spectively. XRD analysis was performed using X-ray diffractometer
was added. The roasting temperatures were varied from 200 to with Fe filtered CoKα as a radiation source. During TGA investigations,
300 °C. The mixture in a crucible was placed in a laboratory furnace samples of (10 ± 1.5) mg were measured in a temperature range of
when the desired temperature was attained. On completion of the 25–1090 °C at a rate of 20 °C min −1 in flowing N2. Comparison was
roasting process the samples were removed, cooled at room made for the synthesised and commercial Li2CO3 from Alfa Aesar, a
 O. Sitando, P.L. Crouse / International Journal of Mineral Processing 102–103 (2012) 45–50 47

Table 1
Acidic leach solutions Particle size distribution.

Particle Weight Weight Cummulative %

size (μm) retained retained % passing size

75 8.136 8.14 91.86

Limestone added until pH is 5.5-6.5 53 26.732 26.73 65.13
to precipitate Fe, Al 45 16.095 16.10 49.04
38 42.139 42.14 6.90
-38 6.898 6.90 0.00

Filtration Impurities (Al, Fe)

subjected to ICP analysis to determine the lithium and impurity
concentration.

Hydrated lime added to precipitate 3. Results and discussion

Mg. Ca precipitated using small
amount of Na2CO3 at pH 11-12 3.1. Particle size distribution

The particle size distribution of as-received petalite concentrate

is shown on Table 1. It is revealed that the concentrate is fine with
Filtration Mg(OH)2 and CaCO3 more than 91% of the concentrate particles smaller than 75 μm.
Small mineral particle size enhances the leaching rate since larger
surface area of the mineral particle is exposed to chemical attack.
The influence of mineral particle size thus cannot be overlooked in
hydrometallurgical treatment.
Solution adjusted to pH 7-8 using H2SO4

3.2. Mineralogical composition of the concentrate

Fig. 1. Flow sheet for leach liquor purification.
The mineral phases recorded from the XRD examination of the
lithium pegmatite is provided in Table 2. XRD examination confirmed
Johnson Matthey Company. Chemical analysis was done by means of that the sample is a petalite. Furthermore the XRD data showed the
ICP to determine the purity of Li2CO3. 0.50 g of processed Li2CO3 was presence of associated minerals, viz. spodumene, bikitaite, lepidolite,
dissolved with concentrated HCl at 90 °C for 30 min and made up to quartz, albite and microcline.
100 mL with distilled water in a volumetric flask. The solution was

3.3. Elemental analysis

Purified leach solution at pH 7-8
The results of the XRF and ICP-OES showed Li2O (4.10%), SiO2
(76.11%) and Al2O3 (17.76%) as major oxides. The chemical composi-
tion of petalite concentrate is shown in Table 3.

Condensation of leach
solution to > 11g L-1 Li 3.4. Roasting studies

3.4.1. Effect of roasting temperature and time

A number of experiments were run by varying the roasting tem-
Filtration Residual Ca perature in the range of 200–300 °C. The results of this investigation
are presented in Fig. 3. An increase in temperature from 200
to 300 °C brings about an increase in dissolution of lithium, which
is attributed to the fact that raising the temperature will increase
Addition of Na2CO3 slowly to the hot the reaction rate. From the graph maximum extraction was achieved
solution at 95-100 oC to precipitate Li2CO3 Li2CO3
at 300 °C in 60 min.

Mother liquor

Table 2
Crystallization of the Na2SO4 Semi-quantitative mineral content of the petalite (XRD analysis).
liquor 0-8 °C
Mineral phase (Wt.%)

Petalite (LiAlSi4O10) 57.0

Spodumene (LiAlSi2O6) 3.0
Quartz (SiO2) 4.0
Lithium and residual Na2CO3 Albite (NaAlSi3O8) 17.0
recycled Bikitaite (LiAlSi2O6(H2O)) 2.0
Lepidolite (K(Al0.62Li0.38)2Li0.92Si4Al0.42O10(OH)0.485F1.51) 10.0
Microline (KAlSi3O8) 7.0
Fig. 2. Flow sheet for precipitation of Li2CO3.
48 O. Sitando, P.L. Crouse / International Journal of Mineral Processing 102–103 (2012) 45–50

Table 3 100
Chemical composition of the petalite (XRF, ICP-OES analysis).
80

% Li extracted
Component (%) ICP-OES XRF (normalised) Combined

SiO2 - 79.37 76.11 60

Al2O3 - 18.52 17.76
Li2O 4.10 - 4.10 40
Fe2O3 - 0.05 0.05
Na2O - 0.57 0.54 20
K2O - 0.47 0.45
CaO - 0.12 0.11
0
Rb2O - 0.09 0.09 0.000 0.050 0.100 0.150 0.200 0.250 0.300
P2O5 - 0.03 0.03
Cs2O - 0.03 0.03 Solid /liquid ratio (g mL-1)
MnO - 0.02 0.02
F - 0.01 0.01 Fig. 5. Effect of solid/liquid ratio on the extraction rate of lithium. Experimental conditions:
CeO2 - 0.09 0.09 acid roasting temperature 300 °C, acid roasting time 60 min, leaching temperature 50 °C,
Cr2O3 - 0.00 0.00 leaching time 60 min and stirring speed 320 rpm.
MoO3 - 0.01 0.01
LOIa (1000 °C) 0.62 0.59
Total 100.00 100.00
a
Loss on ignition.
Above 320 rpm, the stirring rate no longer influences the lithium disso-
lution. On the basis of the data, subsequent experiments were carried
out at a stirring speed of 320 rpm.

3.5. Leaching studies

3.5.2. Effect of solid/liquid ratio
3.5.1. Effect of stirring rate The effect of solid/liquid (g mL −1) ratio was also examined. The re-
The effect of agitation on the dissolution of lithium was investigated sults of different solid to liquid ratios are illustrated in Fig. 5. It can
in water at 50 °C, using stirring speeds of 0–400 rpm with solid/liquid be seen from Fig. 5 that the percentage lithium extracted decreases
ratio of (1/7.5 g/mL). The results in Fig. 4 show that stirring speed has with increasing solid-to-liquid ratio. A decrease in solid to liquid
a significant effect on the dissolution of lithium. Agitation is required ratio decreases the viscosity of the system and as a result decreases
to keep the solids in suspension as well as to exclude the influence the mass transfer resistance in liquid–solid interface. The solid-to-
of external mass transfer (diffusion through liquid boundary layer). liquid ratio of (1/7.5 g/mL) gave the highest dissolution and was
kept for further use in this study.

120 3.5.3. Effect of leaching temperature and time

The effect of temperature on the dissolution of lithium was inves-
100 tigated with solid/liquid ratio of (1/7.5 g/mL), stirring speed of
320 rpm at temperatures 50 and 90 °C. From the results in Fig. 6, it
% Li extracted

80
can be shown that temperature has very little effect on the extraction
60 of lithium. The highest extraction of around 97.30% was realised after
60 min for all the temperatures. To avoid significant loses of liquid
40 200 °C by evaporation the temperature of 50 °C was used for subsequent
250 °C experiments.
20
300 °C
0 3.6. Solution purification
0 20 40 60 80 100
Leaching time (min) Changes of lithium and impurity concentration during processing
Fig. 3. Effect of roasting temperature on the extraction rate of lithium. Experimental leach liquors are described in Table 4. It is indicated from Table 4
conditions: leaching temperature 50 °C, leaching time 60 min, stirring speed 320 rpm that CaCO3 is effective in removing Al and Fe by precipitation.
and solid/liquid ratio (1/7.5 g/mL). The same implies to precipitation of Mg and Ca with Ca(OH)2 and

100
100
98
96 80
% Li extracted

% Li extracted

94
60
92
50 °C
90 40 90 °C
88
20
86
84 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 0 20 40 60 80 100
Stirring speed (rpm) Leaching time (min)

Fig. 4. Effect of stirring speed on the extraction rate of lithium. Experimental conditions: Fig. 6. Effect of leaching temperature on the extraction rate of lithium. Experimental
acid roasting temperature 300 °C, acid roasting time 60 min, leaching temperature conditions: acid roasting temperature 300 °C, acid roasting time 60 min, stirring
50 °C, leaching time 60 min and solid/liquid ratio (1/7.5 g/mL). speed 320 rpm, leaching time 60 min and solid/liquid ratio (1/7.5 g/mL).
 O. Sitando, P.L. Crouse / International Journal of Mineral Processing 102–103 (2012) 45–50 49

Table 4
Concentration of elements in processed solutions.

Solution pH Elemental concentration (mg L− 1)

Li Ca K Na Al Si Fe Mg

Original leach liquor 0.95 5716.82 145.14 451.60 1422.70 10.05 33.21 37.95 12.24
Leach liquor on addition of (CaCO3 and Ca(OH)2) 10.25 5500.72 559.50 147.80 1015.30 b0.025 b0.01 b0.01 b 0.01
Leach liquor on addition of (Na2CO3) 11.56 5227.65 11.36 131.90 2163.30 b0.025 b0.01 b0.01 b 0.01
Concentrated leach liquor 8.00 11998.62 7.29 492.93 5362.32 0.04 b0.01 b0.01 b 0.01
Mother liquor (filtrate) 1120.15

Na2CO3 respectively. Lithium losses during the purification process The thermogram for both synthesised and commercial Li2CO3 is
were 7.64%. shown in Fig. 7. The thermogravimetric curve for the synthesised
Li2CO3 is almost similar to that of commercial powder. Both thermo-
3.7. Precipitation and characterisation of lithium carbonate grams show that below 700 °C the curves are smooth and the mass
changed very little. At about 725 °C Li2CO3 starts to decompose
Precipitation of Li2CO3 was done at 95–100 °C because the sol- releasing CO2 according to the following reaction (3):
ubility of lithium carbonate decreases with increasing temperature
(Wietelmann and Bauer, 2003). Lagos and Becerra (2005) reported
Li2 CO3 →Li2 O þ CO2 ð3Þ
that precipitation with sodium carbonate is the most effective
since sodium sulphate that also precipitates is eliminated by washing
with hot water. Lithium carbonate is precipitated from an aqueous Mass losses of 58.43% and 60.83% for synthesised and commercial
lithium solution using Na2CO3 according to the following reaction (2): Li2CO3 respectively were recorded, these corresponds well to the
expected stoichiometrical mass loss of 59.55%.
Li2 SO4ðaqÞ þ Na2 CO3ðaqÞ →Li2 Co3ðsÞ þ Na2 SO4ðaqÞ ð2Þ A comparison between X-ray pattern for synthesised and com-
mercial Li2CO3 powder is shown in Fig. 8. As can be seen, the X-ray
Analytical results show that about 86.00% of the lithium was patterns for the synthesised and commercial powder are very
recovered as a precipitate relative to the concentrated leach liquor. similar. The results also indicate that no other phases were iden-
tified except the lithium carbonate. A slightly difference in peak
100 intensities might be due to the difference in concentration of the
90 powders.
80
The purity of the synthesised product is indicated in Table 5. From
the results, the purity of the recovered powder is 99.21% (metal
70
basis). The analysis shows that the major impurity is Na which may
Weight (%)

60 be attributed to the residual Na2SO4 and excess Na2CO3 that were

50 not removed completely during the washing process.
40
30
Commercial Li2CO3 4. Conclusions
20
Synthesised Li2CO3
10 The XRF and ICP-OES technique showed that the petalite con-
0 centrate consists of oxides of Li, Si, and Al as major components,
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
with an average Li2O content of 4.10%. XRD examination on the
o
Temperature ( C) other hand confirmed that the predominant mineral is petalite. It
also revealed that presence of associated minerals, viz. spodumene,
Fig. 7. Thermograms of synthesised and commercial Li2CO3.
lepidolite, bikitaite, quartz, albitite and microline. The extraction
rates of lithium are significantly influenced by roasting tempera-
120000 ture, stirring speed and solid liquid ratio. Maximum extraction of
97.30% was realised at a roasting temperature of 300 °C, solid/liquid
100000 ratio (1/7.5 g/mL), stirring speed of 320 rpm at leaching temperature
of 50 °C in 60 min. The experimental results show that purity of
Intensity (counts)

Synthesised Li2CO3 Li2CO3 produced by this process was 99.21% (metal basis). XRD of
80000
the synthesised powder indicate that no other phases were present
except of zabuyelite (Li2CO3). The thermograms for synthesised and
60000
commercial Li2CO3 where almost identical with both powder starts
decomposing around 725 °C.
40000
Commercial Li2CO3

20000 Table 5
Content of impurities in lithium carbonate.
0 Li2CO3 Purity (%) Content of major impurities (%)
20 30 40 50 60
2 Theta (degrees) Ca K Na Al Si Fe Mg

99.21 b 0.01 0.031 0.760 b0.01 b0.01 b0.01 b0.01

Fig. 8. X-ray patterns of synthesised and commercial Li2CO3.
50 O. Sitando, P.L. Crouse / International Journal of Mineral Processing 102–103 (2012) 45–50

Acknowledgements Jaskula, B.W., 2008. Lithium, Minerals Yearbook-2007. U.S. Geological Survey,
pp. 44.1–44.8 (Available at) http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/
lithium/myb1-2007-lith.pdf (accessed on 2.7.2010).
The authors would like to thank the University of Pretoria, the Jaskula, B.W., 2010. U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral commodity summaries lithium. U.S.
South African National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Fluoro- Geological Survey, pp. 92–93 (Available at) http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/
pubs/mcs/2010/mcs2010.pdf (accessed on 2.7.2010).
chemical Expansion Initiative (FEI) for financial support. Kamiensiki, C.W., McDonald, D.P., Stark, M.W., Papcun, J.R., 2005. Lithium and lithium
compounds in Kirk-Othmer. Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, vol. 15. John
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