News

IP Group portfolio company, ElectraLith, has won the prestigious Agriculture, Mining, Engineering and Utilities category of The Australian Financial Review 2024 BOSS Most Innovative Companies awards. 

The awards were announced this week and ElectraLith headed a strongly competitive field of 10 in its category that included Fortescue, Orica, Essential Energy and Worley.

Melbourne-based ElectraLith uses its proprietary end-to-end electro-membrane technology, DLE-RTM, , to extract battery grade lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate from salar brines, geothermal oilfield brines and spodumene leach,

Its patented DLE-RTM membranes use no water or chemicals and can run entirely on renewable power, delivering a step-change reduction to the environmental and economic costs of other lithium extraction processes.

Spun out of Monash University, ElectraLith has been backed by IP Group, Rio Tinto and Monash University.

ElectraLith announced a successful proof-of-concept trial in August this year, making headlines in global financial media.

“The award is a tribute to the hard work of CEO Charlie MacGill and the small but dedicated ElectraLith team,” said IP Group ANZ Managing Director and ElectraLith Chair, Michael Molinari.

“Its technology is emerging as the cleanest, most versatile and most cost-efficient method for extracting and refining lithium, which is fundamental to a sustainable energy future.”

ElectraLith has licensed the technology to Rio Tinto, which will be its first customer. A pilot plant is scheduled to start operating in about 12 months at Rio Tinto’s Rincon lithium project in Argentina.