Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) has reported a substantial increase in ore reserves at the Pilgangoora Lithium-Tantalum Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
The updated proved and probable ore reserves of 69.8 million tonnes grading 1.26% Li2O is more than double the maiden ore reserve announced in the March 2016 pre-feasibility study.
The new ore reserve will underpin the definitive feasibility study for the Pilgangoora Project, which is now in its final stages and on track to be released early next month.
The project now contains 883,000 tonnes of lithium oxide and 20.3 million pounds of tantalite, which is sufficient to underpin a planned mine life of 35 years based on a 2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) operation.
Importantly, studies are already underway to increase production capacity to 4 mtpa in the future, once operations at Pilgangoora have commenced at the initial targeted production rate of 2 mtpa.
Pilbara’s strategy is to become an extremely low-cost hard-rock lithium producer, and operate at the bottom cost quartile on a long-term basis.
One of the key attributes of the Pilgangoora project is that, because of its high grades and low stripping ratio, it has the potential to generate strong margins at all stages of the lithium price cycle.
With a cash balance of $100 million as at 30 June 2016, Pilbara is well funded to progress the Pilgangoora project.
Proactive Investors is a global leader reporting financial news, media, research and hosts events for listed emerging growth companies and investors across four continents.