ioneer awards Rhyolite Ridge engineering design contract to Veolia

ioneer awards Rhyolite Ridge engineering design contract to Veolia

Highlights:

• ioneer selects Veolia Water Technologies for major engineering design and future equipment supply contract for the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project.
• Represents the single largest supplier package for the Project and is a major step towards construction and development.
• Veolia has commenced engineering design work (phase 1), while the supply of equipment (phase 2) is conditional on a final investment decision on the Project.

23 August 2021– ioneer Ltd (‘ioneer’ or ‘the Company’) (ASX: INR), an emerging lithium-boron supplier, is pleased to announce it has awarded a major engineering and equipment supply contract to Veolia Water Technologies Inc. (‘Veolia’), for the development of the Company’s wholly-owned Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project (‘Rhyolite Ridge’ or ‘the Project’) in Nevada, US.

Veolia has commenced work on vendor engineering design of the equipment package, which includes evaporation, crystallization and dewatering equipment. It is the largest single supply contract that ioneer will award as part of the Rhyolite Ridge build.

The contract has been awarded on a limited notice to proceed basis.  Phase one, the supply of effective engineering services, has commenced while phase 2, the supply of equipment, is conditional on a final investment decision on the Project by ioneer’s Board of Directors.

Veolia is a world leader in the design and delivery of systems for purification, recovery and drying of inorganic chemicals using HPD® evaporation and crystallization technologies. Furthermore, Veolia provides state-of-the-art research and development capabilities to facilitate the understanding of multi-component systems and their optimization for efficiency, operability and final product quality.

Veolia and ioneer have been working together since 2018 to demonstrate the feasibility of the process design, including design and operation of ioneer’s full simulation pilot plant in Vancouver, British Columbia.  Veolia has also conducted laboratory testing and simulated key unit operations including clarification, ion exchange purification, evaporation, crystallization, and precipitation at Veolia’s Phillip J. Stewart Technology Center in Plainfield, IL (USA) including the production of high purity lithium hydroxide monohydrate.  The results obtained from this work confirmed the design parameters, reduced the technical risks and boosted the project viability.
 

ioneer Managing Director, Bernard Rowe, said:

"We are very pleased to award this engineering design and equipment supply contract to Veolia, the largest supply contract we will award in the development of Rhyolite Ridge. We have been working closely with Veolia over the past three years during the pilot plant and DFS phases and are pleased to be extending this relationship. Veolia is a recognized leader in process design and engineering, with direct experience in developing solutions for lithium processing facilities. Its capabilities will be crucial to meet required purity standards in our production facilities."
 

Commenting on the contract, CEO of Veolia Water Technologies Americas, Jim Brown, said:

"Veolia, as the leader in ecological transformation, is excited to be part of Ioneer’s commitment to providing the materials necessary to further develop renewable energy and clean technologies by utilizing our industry experience and state-of-the-art research facility to develop this resource.  Our long-term cooperation working together with ioneer has been instrumental in bringing the project to this point."
 

This ASX release has been authorised by ioneer Managing Director, Bernard Rowe.