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    Mangrove lithium refinery in British Columbia: process and capex insights for engineers

    April 19, 2026|

    Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

    Mangrove lithium refinery in British Columbia: process and capex insights for engineers

    First reported on MINING.com

    30 Second Briefing

    Mangrove Lithium has commissioned North America’s first commercial electrochemical lithium refinery in Delta, British Columbia, with capacity to produce 1,000 tonnes per year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide—enough for about 25,000 EVs—using an electrolyser and membrane system that regenerates sulfuric acid and eliminates sodium sulfate waste. The plant can process feed from brines, hard rock, clays, geothermal direct lithium extraction and battery recycling, reducing chemical consumption and carbon intensity versus conventional routes. Backed by up to C$116 million from the Canada Growth Fund and C$21.9 million in conditional federal support, Mangrove is advancing a 20,000 t/y Quebec refinery and has an MoU to source spodumene from the North American Lithium mine.

    Technical Brief

    • Lithium sulphate brine is electrolysed, transporting lithium across a membrane while regenerating sulphuric acid for reuse.
    • Eliminating sodium hydroxide addition removes the sodium sulphate waste stream, leaving only minor water losses.
    • Feed flexibility includes brines, hard-rock concentrates, clays, geothermal DLE outputs and black-mass from battery recycling.
    • Direct lithium extraction is treated as an upstream concentration step, not a competing refining technology.

    Our Take

    The related MoU with Elevra Lithium to supply up to 144,000 t/y of North American Lithium (NAL) spodumene concentrate from 2028 positions Mangrove Lithium’s British Columbia and planned Quebec facilities as a dedicated downstream outlet for that mine, reducing exposure to Chinese converters that currently dominate about 96% of global lithium refining capacity among the top three countries.

    The presence of BMW i Ventures and Breakthrough Energy Ventures in the C$116 million financing package signals that Mangrove Lithium is being treated less as a single‑asset processor and more as a platform play in North American lithium chemicals, which may influence how other Canadian critical minerals projects structure funding rounds captured in our recent Mining coverage.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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