Lithium deportment by size of a calcined spodumene ore

Abstract Calcination, utilised to convert hard rock lithium minerals from α-spodumene to more reactive β-spodumene, has been shown to greatly impact the physical characteristics of some of the components in the ore. This work investigates the energy efficiency used for upgrading the lithium content in the finer fraction of the calcined spodumene ore. The results showed that while closed-circuit grinding resulted in 89% lithium recovery of the finest size fractions (-0.6 mm) relative to 65 % over the same milling time for the open-circuit grinding, this was associated with far lower energy consumption and higher mass retention. The grade of the finest size fraction in the case of the open-circuit grinding was 1.7 times more than that in the case of the closed-circuit grinding. This work shows the potential of using different grinding modes to maximize energy efficiency and lithium deportment by size.