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Rio Tinto-backed lithium tech start-up set to raise 2nd round of funds

A lithium innovation start-up backed by Rio Tinto expects to finalise a funding round in the next week to raise A$ 29 million ($ 19. million), even as the worldwide lithium market struggles, its. Melbournebased CEO told Reuters.

ElectraLith is establishing a purification innovation that can. extract lithium from brine deposits without using water or. chemicals, which would be type in dry locations like Chile's Atacama. desert, and needs just percentages of energy.

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

Numerous companies, consisting of Exxon Mobil, are. completing to commercialise their own direct lithium extraction. ( DLE) technologies in a market that is expected to grow to. more than $10 billion in yearly income within the next decade.

DLE is expected to reshape the lithium market by speeding. the production procedure of the metal used in EV batteries and. electronics to hours or days, compared with months or longer. with big evaporation ponds and open pit mines.

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

The group is dealing with how to scale the membrane for. large jobs while maintaining its homes, McGill stated,. and retains all business rights.

ElectraLith plans to use funds raised to build its first. pilot plant at Rio Tinto's Rincon operations in Argentina, he. stated, including the task is about a year from being all set to. pilot.

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

By producing lithium hydroxide without water or chemicals,. ElectraLith states it can compete at around half the expense of. competitors, McGill stated.

The accessibility of water in the areas where there are. lithium mines is a major problem, he stated.

In Utah, where it is working on 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 permit, McGill said.

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

(source: Reuters)