Sustainable and innovative exploration and exploitation of Swedish lithium ores

Purpose and goal: The main objective is to develop and apply new and innovative lithium exploration

methods for pegmatite-hosted mineralisations in Nordic bedrock. The aim is also to provide new solutions to increase yields and at the same time reduce waste that may be suitable for metallurgic (high quality quartz), and ceramic (feldspars applications) applications and as pigments (micas). The Li-bearing rocks will also be investigated with respect to the potential for minerals hosting other critical metals besides Li that are, among other appliances, important for the green transition.

Expected results and effects:

An increased understanding of Li-bearing pegmatite systems in Sweden with respect to the geological evolution, their distribution, and a scanning method that yields information about the mineralogy, including the proportion of the main Li-ore phases, and the texture and chemical composition of the host rocks. The evaluation of the spectroscopic response of Li-ore minerals to in particular UV wavelength-specific fluorescence will show if this technology can be applied for Li exploration.

Approach and implementation: The project is divided into five integrated work packages that will be conducted parallel to

optimise the work flow, and the obtained results will continuously be evaluated together. The work packages are divided into 1) coordination, 2) development of Orexplore GeoCoe X10 for identification of light elements and applications to Li-ores, 4) characterisation of the Bergby pegmatite ore field, that is the test bed for the project, 5) geochronology and thermobarometry on the rocks within the ore field, and 6) field test in similar, potentially Li-bearing pegmatite fields elsewhere.