Premier African Minerals said that after restarting operations in the latter part of September 2023, it expects to meet the production target for shipments from its Zulu lithium project in November 2023.
Use of the RHA mill currently only allows for up to 50% of target production and the supply of a new mill to meet full design throughput is expected to be installed and commissioned in early 2024.
Premier added that the six months to June were difficult due to problems with the design of the original plant and how that affected its relationship with major backer Canmax, but those issues have now been resolved.
Operating losses in the six months to June were US$7.1 million due to the ongoing overheads and administration costs associated with the construction, installation and optimisation of Zimbabwe-based Zulu.
Canmax is providing financial support while the Zulu operation gets up and running.
“I believe this will be the last time that I potentially report interim results that do not include details of cash generative operations,“ said chief executive George Roach.