C Ritical E Lements Successfully Completes Pilot Pla NT Work FOR L Ithium C Arbonate Conversion
PRESS RELEASE
C RITICAL E LEMENTS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES PILOT PLA NT WORK
FOR L ITHIUM C ARBONATE CONVERSION
High purity lithium carbonate with 99.9%
High recovery of 88.4% vs market benchmark of 70 to 75%
Overall recovery from spodumene to carbonate of 81.4% vs market benchmark of 65%
M AY 2 9 , 2017 – M ONTREAL , Q UEBEC – Critical Elements Corporation (the “Corporation” or “Critical
Elements”) (TSX - V: CR E) (US OTC QX: CRECF) (FSE: F12 ) is pleased to announce results from Pilot Plant
program recently completed by the Company with Outotec to demonstrated that the conversion of Critical
Elements spodumene resources into l ithium carbonate battery quality using the thermal leaching process
was easily achievable.
This well known s conversion process (calcination, t hermal leaching & bicarbonization & crystallization ) from
Spodumene concentrate to lithium carbonate showed extremely good results w ith extraction rates of
88.4 % with very hi gh purity of l ithium carbonate of 99.9% . This extraction rate surpasses the worldwide
average of between 70 to 75 % in what is accepted as an industry standard.
Purity of 99.9% was reached and the imp urity profile i s outstanding with levels of sodium below 100
ppm, calcium below 200 ppm, iron below 2 0 ppm and heavy metals below 5 ppm.
Li 2 CO 3 analyses – impurity levels in Li 2 CO 3
These results demonstrated th at Critical Elements approach to the l ithium carbonate processing plant has
been validated and do not require any additional cost intensive purification steps. The diagram below
illustrates the Critical Elements process flow:
" This supports the low impur ity profile of our ore allows us the production of l ithium carbonate battery
quality at competitive costs without additional purification steps" sa id Jean - Sébastien Lavall é e , Chairman
and CEO of Critical Elements.
As support ed by these test s , and by choosing this technology ( i.e. Thermal Leaching Process ) Critical
Elements has demonstrated their technological leadership, which will result in a superior product at the
lowest possible cost.
PILOT PLANT WORK DETAILS
Details on piloting work program achieve over 336 hours at Outotec Pilot plant:
• Pilot operated in 8 hour shifts 24 h/day, 7 days a week
• Pilot is operated for 14 days = 336 hours
• During 8 hour shift the following tasks are done
• Slurry preparation (Sample from PR)
• Leaching + bicarbonization (Sample after BcR)
• Leach residue filtration and washing (Sample from BC WW, residue to PSD analysis)
• Polishing filtration of the filtrate (Sample from T1)
• Crystallization (Sample from S3 filtrate)
• Caustification (Sample from pHR and T2)
• Li2CO3 washing is done once a day
• Sample from S4_Li2CO3 and LC WW
• In total 22 solution samples and 7 solids samples a day ~ 400 samples in total
To date Critical Elements has completed the following testing and piloting work:
Piloting of the chosen concentrator plant design (see C ritical Elements ’ press release dated April
5, 2017 )
Piloting of the thermal conversion of the ore from α - spodumene to β - spodumene (See Critical
Elements’ press release dated April 13, 2017 )
Piloting of the Thermal Leaching Process currently b eing completed .
This i s shown graphically below:
Based on the results of the above work and modelling conducted by Outotec, Critical Elements believes
that the overall total recovery rate should approach 81 % which compares very favorably to industry
standards which are typically in the low to mid 60’s.
This recovery is based on the following:
Concentrator Plant Recovery - 92% possible as indicated by Outotec’s modelling
Decrepitation Kiln Recovery - 96% verified in pilot plant
Thermal Leaching Process - 94 % as a n average verified in pilot plant
Bicarbonization/Lithium Carbonate crystallization - 98%
Overall yield - potentially as high as 81.4%
Outotec is a leading technology company in multiple mining and extraction industries, including the lithium
industry, with sites in Frankfurt, Germany and Pori, Finland, as well as other locations.
They offer competent knowledge of the various processing options for both beneficiating spodumene , as
well as converting spodumene into saleable lithium sal ts. Their lithium expertise includes multiple years of
research into various lithium processing options; including the understanding and optimizing the process
Critical Elements has chosen for lithium extraction.
Jean - Sébastien Lavallée (OGQ #7 73), geolog ist, shareholder and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
of the Company and a Qualified Person under NI 43 - 101, has reviewed and approved the technical content
of this release.
A BOUT C RITICAL E LEMENTS C ORPORATION
A recent financial analysis (Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on the Rose
lithium - tantalum Project, Genivar, December 2011) of the Rose project, 100% owned by Critical Elements,
based on p rice forecasts of US $260/kg ($118/lb) for Ta 2 O 5 contained in a tantalite concentrate and US
$6,000/t for lithium carbonate (Li 2 CO 3 ) showed an estimated after - tax Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 25%
for the Rose project, with an estimated Net Present Valu e (NPV) of CA $279 million at an 8% discount rate.
The payback period is estimated at 4.1 years. The pre - tax IRR is estimated at 33% and the NPV at CA
$488 million at a discount rate of 8%. (Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have
demonstrated economic viability). (The preliminary economic assessment is preliminary in nature). (See
press release dated November 21, 2011.) The PEA includes inferred mineral resources that are considered
too speculative geologically to have economic co nsiderations applied to them that would enable them to be
categorized as mineral reserves and there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessment will be
realized.
The conclusions of the PEA indicate that the operation would support a production rate of 26,606 tons of
high purity (99.9% battery grade) Li 2 CO 3 and 206,670 pounds of Ta 2 O 5 per year over a 17 - year mine life.
The project hosts a current Indicated resource of 26.5 million tonnes of 1.30% Li 2 O Eq. or 0.98% Li 2 O and
163 ppm Ta 2 O 5 and an Inferred resource of 10.7 million tonnes of 1.14% Li 2 O Eq. or 0.86% Li 2 O and 145
ppm Ta 2 O 5 .
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Jean - Sébastien Lavallée, P.Geo.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
819 - 354 - 5146
jslavalle@ cecorp.ca
www.cecorp.ca
Investor Relations:
Paradox Public Relations
514 - 341 - 0408
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider
(as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange)
accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.