Ganfeng Lithium Starts 500-Tonne Rubidium-Cesium Carbonate Separation Line

Highlights

• Ganfeng Lithium and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have started the world's first 500-tonne-per-year continuous tower-extraction line for rubidium and cesium carbonates.
• Seventeen extraction towers replace over 70 conventional mixer-settlers, cutting extractant consumption by 40% and plant footprint by 50%.
• Cesium recovery exceeds 98% and rubidium exceeds 95%, with products surpassing 99.9% purity already entering commercial sales.
• China converts a geological weakness—no independently mineable pollucite deposits—into a processing advantage through resource intensification.
• No capital costs, operating costs, or independently audited economics were disclosed, leaving commercial competitiveness unverified.