ASX-listed Lithium Universe has demonstrated that its licensed tertiary diamide ligand technology can successfully extract and precipitate gallium and platinum from e-waste.
Together with its partner, University of Edinburgh, Lithium Universe’s testwork results show greater than 99% gallium recovery rates and near-complete platinum recovery under specific laboratory conditions.
This significantly expands the potential application of the company’s technology being its original focus on gold and copper recovery.
“The results provide an encouraging foundation for expanding the diamide technology into a broader critical metals recovery platform, although further laboratory development, scale-up and commercial evaluation will be required,” says Lithium Universe CEO Iggy Tan.
He adds that the university’s research has demonstrated that the underlying diamide chemistry is tunable and that by altering conditions such as hydrochloric acid concentration, ligand dosage and the chemical form of the metals, the diamond can also precipitate other valuable metals such as gallium and platinum, not only gold and copper.
For Tan, gallium recovery is particularly exciting given that it sits at the heart of modern electronics. It is used in semiconductors, LEDs, high-frequency communications, power electronics and defence applications, yet it is difficult to recover from e-waste owing to small quantities being spread through individual electric components.
Electronic ships typically contain between 0.9 and 1.3 mg of gallium and e-waste fractions can contain up to 35% gallium. In turn, mobile phone circuit boards contain about 14 g/t of platinum. The global gallium market is
estimated to be worth $1-billion a year, with gallium currently valued at around $237/kg.
Lithium Universe plans to have downstream refining and processing operations located in Bécancour, Québec, Canada.
