$7.5m for extracting lithium for EVs from geothermal fluid

Global plans by New Zealand mineral recovery firm Geo40 Ltd to obtain low carbon lithium from geothermal fluid recovery have been accelerated by up to $7.5 million investment from New Zealand deep tech specialist venture capital firm Pacific Channel.

The company has plans to supply sustainably sourced, ultra-low carbon lithium to the EV battery market.

“Geo40 has successfully leveraged and expanded its silica-recovery technology to develop a ground-breaking method to economically recover lithium from geothermal fluids,” Geo40 chief executive and managing director John Worth says.

“Pacific Channel’s investment now enables the company to accelerate its pilot plant plans and demonstrate that its recently developed lithium recovery method is capable of economically extracting lithium from geothermal and other subsurface fluids in an environmentally sustainable manner.”

Pacific Channel partner Kieran Jina says the investment in Geo40 is significant for Pacific Channel’s “Fund II” which has $55m available to invest in New Zealand based, deep-tech companies with breakthrough technologies.

“The technology developed by Geo40 is truly innovative and will have meaningful environmental benefits,” Jina says.

“This is Pacific Channel’s largest investment to date, and we’re thrilled to be providing the company with the capital required to accelerate its growth into the rapidly expanding lithium recovery and supply market.”

Global demand for lithium is forecast to increase significantly as governments mandate a move to EVs and support efforts that reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable development initiatives.

That means demand for lithium-ion batteries is expected to surge tenfold by 2030, BloombergNEF says.

Geo40’s early work suggests not only can it recover lithium selectively from geothermal and other underground fluids, but it can also produce high-quality lithium concentrates suitable for subsequent refining to final lithium products suitable for the EV battery market.

“The company has worked successfully with a number of brines with varying lithium levels from around the world in its testing programme to date,” Worth explains.

“Geo40 is positioning itself to have a significant impact on the global move to a more environmentally sustainable future with its speciality silica products used in various nano-technology applications, lithium for the rapidly growing electric battery market, as well as other elements, such as caesium and boron, the R&D work for which has already begun,” he adds.

“Geo40 believes that it can offer credible, economically compelling and environmentally sustainable alternatives to current extraction processes.”