Canadian lithium development company Rock Tech Lithium has unveiled a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for its fully-owned Georgia Lake spodumene project in Canada.
The PFS results indicate a life of mine (LOM) of nine years and recommend open pit and underground mining, and the construction of a 1MTPA (million tonnes per annum) spodumene concentrator.
The updated Mineral Resource estimate shows an Indicated Mineral Resources of 10.6mt at grading of 0.88% Li2O and total Inferred Mineral Resources of 4.2mt at grading of 1% Li2O.
The PFS indicates a pre-tax internal return rate of 47.8% and a pre-tax net present value (NPV) of $223m, at an 8% discount rate.
The pre-production costs are estimated at around $192.2m, with sustaining capital costs of $98.5m including closure after the project’s mine life.
In addition, the PFS results support its plans to further deepen the vertically integrated strategy connecting its mining, concentration, and conversion operations, said the company.
Rock Tech CEO Dirk Harbecke said: “These results support the integration of Georgia Lake with the downstream conversion industry, where we have been building strong partnerships and extensive know-how.
“The encouraging results also demonstrate that we are well positioned to explore potential fields of collaboration in the North American and European EV supply chain.”
Georgia Lake project is located 160km northeast of the Thunder Bay Mining District of Ontario, Canada.
The PFS was conducted to evaluate the technical and economic viability of achieving spodumene concentrate production at the project.
The positive results support the potential lithium mining activities and the concentration of spodumene at the Georgia Lake project.
However, the PFS did not consider economics related to a 15,000 tonnes-per-annum capacity lithium hydroxide converter and refinery facility at the Georgia Lake project.
Rock Tech said that the output can be refined at its proposed converter in Guben, Germany, at its owned and operated converter in North America or through third-party refiners.
The metallurgical test work on spodumene concentrate samples from the Georgia Lake project showed potential for conversion into battery-grade lithium hydroxide.
Furthermore, the company is planning to conduct a feasibility study (FS) for the Georgia Lake project, to upgrade the Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates.
