Rodinia's CEO Randall added that an updated resource statement should be in by the end of this year.
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Rodinia Lithium (CVE:RM)(OTCQX:RDNAF) said Tuesday that it successfully produced lithium carbonate from concentrated brine derived from pilot ponds at its Diablillos property in Salta, Argentina.
This first batch of lithium carbonate achieved a purity of 99.45% Li2CO3, and can be further washed employing the same methods to 99.75% Li2CO3.
"The higher purity you can get; you may get a premium in price, Rodinia Lithium chief executive Will Randall tells Proactive Investors.
At a purity level of over 99.45%, lithium carbonate fetches around US$6,000 a tonne.
"As you get closer 99.9% lithium carbonate, your price point for the product is higher still, with the possibility of fetching more than double that of 99.5. For the battery industry, high purity lithium is less available and more sought-after."
The process that Rodinia employed during the production of lithium carbonate is approximately the same as described in the company's preliminary economic assessment (PEA).
Rodinia Lithium said further batches of concentrated brine derived from the pilot ponds will be available for further processing prior to completing a full cycle at pilot scale in the first quarter of 2013.
The company said that completion of the pilot plant cycle is expected during the first quarter of 2013 and is expected to be the final component of the upcoming feasibility study.
Rodinia Lithium's Salar de Diablillos lithium-brine project in Argentina contains a recoverable resource of 2.82 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent and 11.27 million tonnes potassium chloride equivalent. The project contains a recoverable inferred resource of 952,553,000 cubic metres grading 556 milligrams per litre lithium and 6,206 milligrams per litre potassium.
Throughout 2012, Rodinia will focus on continuing to develop the Diablillos project by completing additional drilling and advancing through feasibility study.
Randall described technical progress at Diablillos as "fantastic".
"We defined a large resource, have done a lot of work in infill drilling and pump tests. We now have all the inputs for an updated resource to form the base of a feasibility study, which along with further processing results will provide a final mine plan for construction towards the second half of next year."
Randall added that an updated resource statement should be in by the end of this year.
Earlier this year, the company raised $4.5 million through the monetization of its potash by-products to help develop the company's flagship Salar de Diablillos asset.
MicroCap.com's lead analyst and publisher Danny Deadlock said at the time the company was "the poster child for financing juniors in a tough market".
"Not everyone is able to find investors willing to finance under such creative terms, but it demonstrates management’s commitment to protecting and building shareholder value," Deadlock wrote in a report.
Rodinia's Randall said the deal was "good validation" from financial institutions for our company.
"There's lots of appetite out there for these kinds of instruments. When an investor's risk profile is lower, these kind of instruments are more favourable," Randall said.
Rodinia also holds 100 per cent mineral rights to approximately 15,000 acres in Nevada's lithium-rich Clayton Valley in Esmeralda County, Nevada.
"[Our asset] in Nevada has yet to be fully explored. It is fully permitted and we can now drill the southern part. We are evaluating when to start the drill program to define the resource," Randall tells Proactive Investors.
In terms of future developments, Randall said his company was working with a number of groups now that Rodinia has produced its first industry-grade product on site.
"We will develop more in-depth relationships with trading companies and end-users and hope to make further announcements over the next six months or so."
Rodinia Lithium is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company with a primary focus on Lithium exploration and development in North and South America. It is also actively exploring the commercialization of a significant potash co-product that is expected to be recoverable through the lithium harvesting process.