Jadar Project
Developing one of the world's largest new sources of lithium
Rio Tinto
|
Serbia
|
2013-2017
Jadarite was discovered in 2004
Rio Tinto's first lithium project
Resource estimate of 136 million tons
Potential to supply a significant percentage of global demand for lithium
Challenges
- Discovered in 2004, Jadar is a unique deposit that contains jadarite – a new lithium sodium borosilicate mineral.
- This high-quality, large-scale lithium and boron deposit is located below the Jadar River in Serbia. It is the only place in the world where jadarite can be found.
- The Jadar project requires the development of the world’s first lithium-boron separation plant.
- Early in 2017, Rio Tinto upgraded the resource estimate to 136 million tons, which represented a 16 percent increase compared to the 2015 estimate.
- The prefeasibility study phase is critical in selecting a suitable option for progressing baseline studies.
Solutions
- Rio Tinto required a team to complete studies to further assess the technical and economic viability of the Jadar project.
- Hatch's initial engagement on Jadar was in 2013 through our consulting group, using our expansive lithium industry knowledge to help Rio Tinto assess their business case. This work has grown into the engineering studies.
- Hatch has been retained to provide specialist process engineering services through prefeasibility and feasibility phases, and into execution.
- We are working with the team from Rio Tinto to develop the process flowsheet.
- The next phase of the project, the feasibility study, will assist in further developing the separation facility and defining the project execution strategy.
Highlights
- Jadarite is a unique mineral and there has never been a process developed to extract these valuable minerals before.
- The project represents an opportunity for Rio Tinto to expand their existing business and build a new large-scale lithium business.
- We have gathered a global response team to provide the technical expertise required to develop the world's first-ever lithium-boron separation plant.
- The Rio Tinto and Hatch teams are committed to pursuing the highest standards of health, safety, environmental protection, and community engagement at the Jadar project.