Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX:PLL, NASDAQ:PLL, XETRA:) welcomes a promising pre-feasibility study (PFS) from mining partner Sayona Mining concerning the restart of spodumene concentrate operations at the North American Lithium Project (NAL) in Quebec, Canada.
The PFS points to potential average annual production of 168,000 tonnes of 6% spodumene concentrate over a mine life of 27 years, with an estimated restart cost of US$80 million.
The two companies expect to proceed with full capital expenditure authorisation following these positive results, having acquired NAL in August 2021.
Apart from its robust financials, the study pointed to several improvements and streamlining opportunities for the operation that will likely improve operational availability, lithium recovery, and product quality.
These improvements include equipment upgrade, additional ore storage, expanded ore sorting, iron removal equipment and refinements of the flotation circuit and product dewatering processes, with the eventual goal of converting to dry-stacked tailings over time.
Targeting North American production
“The proposed restart of production at North American Lithium in the first half of 2023 represents the next step in helping Piedmont achieve its vision of becoming the leading lithium hydroxide producer in North America,” Piedmont Lithium chief operating officer Patrick Brindle said.
“We are happy and excited for our partners. Sayona Quebec is one of the largest and best-located spodumene businesses in Canada and, as a past-producer with the bulk of plant and equipment in place, we believe is also the most advanced.
“Piedmont is committed to funding our share of the NAL restart capital, and we look forward to working with Sayona to formalise the full authorization of the NAL restart project in the coming weeks in order to achieve first production in the first half of 2023.”
Piedmont will now explore marketing opportunities for its share of spodumene concentrate from its offtake agreement with Sayona – which provides rights to the greater of either 113,000 metric tonnes or 50% of production per year from the NAL project.