Episode 72 features Dave Buckley one of the few people on the planet to have extensive (more than two decades) experience processing brine and hard rock into carbonate and hydroxide for two major lithium companies followed by half a decade of consulting experience with projects around the world. In addition, Dave also has cathode processing experience.

We cover brine and hard rock processing challenges, issues with expansions in the Atacama, recovery rates, the challenge of producing a higher percentage of battery quality material, DLE, the need for developing lithium talent, hydroxide shelf life and why the “direct” hard rock route to hydroxide is a misnomer.

Dave and I grew both grew up in Western New York and although we didn’t meet until 1992 share a common bond in optimistically suffering through decades of football futility in Buffalo. Dave can be found on Linked In but keeps a very low social media profile.