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Rio Tinto-backed lithium tech start-up set to raise second round of funds

A lithium innovation start-up backed by Rio Tinto anticipates to settle a funding round in the next week to raise A$ 29 million ($ 19. million), even as the global lithium market has a hard time, its. Melbournebased CEO informed Reuters.

ElectraLith is establishing a purification innovation that can. extract lithium from brine deposits without utilizing water or. chemicals, which would be key in arid areas like Chile's Atacama. desert, and requires only small amounts of energy.

The lithium market is not great, equity capital markets. aren't great, (so) the fact we will close this round. with an oversubscribed financier base ... for us that's. wonderful, CEO Charlie McGill informed Reuters.

Several business, consisting of Exxon Mobil, are. contending to commercialise their own direct lithium extraction. ( DLE) innovations in a market that is expected to grow to. more than $10 billion in annual profits within the next years.

DLE is anticipated to improve the lithium market by speeding. the production process of the metal utilized in EV batteries and. electronics to hours or days, compared to months or longer. with large evaporation ponds and open pit mines.

ElectraLith's DLE-R procedure, for which the business holds. commercialisation rights, filters salt water through 2 membranes. that extract lithium and turn it into lithium hydroxide, previously. injecting the staying salt water back into the aquifer.

The group is dealing with how to scale the membrane for. big jobs while keeping its residential or commercial properties, McGill stated,. and maintains all industrial rights.

ElectraLith plans to utilize funds raised to construct its very first. pilot plant at Rio Tinto's Rincon operations in Argentina, he. said, including the task has to do with a year from being ready to. pilot.

Two more pilot plants are set to follow. The company is. currently owned by venture capital company IP Group, Rio Tinto and. Monash University, where its membrane technology was established. under Professor Huanting Wang.

By producing lithium hydroxide without water or chemicals,. ElectraLith says it can complete at around half the cost of. competitors, McGill said.

The schedule of water in the areas where there are. lithium mines is a significant issue, he stated.

In Utah, where it is dealing with a task with. Australia-listed Mandrake Resources, water from the. Colorado River basin needs to flow to Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

You can't get a water license, McGill said.

So we show up and we resemble, 'We do not require water.'

(source: Reuters)