Adina project in Québec is the flagship project of Canada focused exploration and development company Winsome Resources.
In September 2024, the company announced a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) and Scoping Study on the project. The PEA is based on the proposed acquisition of the nearby Renard diamond mine.
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The development of the Adina project will involve repurposing the processing facility at Renard.
Winsome Resources has acquired an exclusive option to purchase the Renard Operation.
Start-up capital cost is estimated to be C$394.5m ($260m), which includes access road construction direct and indirect costs and overall project contingencies.
According to the PEA, Adina project will have a life of mine (LoM) of 21 years, and it is expected to produce 280,000t of Spodumene Concentrate (5.5% basis) annually on an average over a 17-year active production period.
The completion of the Scoping Study will enable Winsome to progress discussions with potential strategic partners, including those involved in the electric vehicle (EV) battery materials supply chain.
Construction works could begin in 2027, and the lithium project may commence operations in the following year.
Adina Lithium Project Location
The Adina Lithium Project is situated in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of Québec, Canada, approximately 350 km east-southeast of Radisson.
It lies about 60km north of the Renard Diamond Mine and its associated infrastructure in the Otish Mountains region.
Covering a total area of 4,431 hectares, Adina comprises 86 mineral claims. The company initially acquired 57 claims from MetalsTech in November 2021, followed by the purchase of an additional 29 claims in 2023.
Geology and Mineralisation
At Adina, the host rocks consist of Archean Lac Guyer greenstone formations, comprising mafic and ultramafic rocks interlayered with metasedimentary and felsic volcanic horizons.
Mineralisation at the property aligns with the characteristics of Lithium-Caesium-Tantalum (LCT) pegmatites. The pegmatite body is positioned sub-parallel to the overall strike of the host rock formations.
Adina Project Mineral Resource Estimate
The Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) utilised in the Adina Project Scoping Study was released in May 2024.
The MRE includes 77.9 million tonnes (Mt) at a grade of 1.15% lithium oxide (Li2O). This represents a Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) of more than 2.21Mt LCE.
It is based on data from 186 drillholes, totalling 57,756m, conducted as part of the company’s exploration and resource delineation drilling programme.
The MRE outlines mineralisation within two closely spaced pegmatite dykes—the Main Zone and Footwall Zone—which the scoping study proposes to extract through a single open-pit mining operation.
The estimate includes 61.4Mt at 1.14% Li2O in the Indicated category and 16.5Mt at 1.19% Li2O in the Inferred category.
Mining at Adina Project
The Scoping Study outlines an open-pit mining approach using conventional 7.5m³ excavators and 100-tonne surface mining trucks to extract and transport waste and run-of-mine (ROM) mineralised material.
The processing schedule targets an average concentrator feed of 1.7Mt per year, or 4,650 tonnes per day (tpd), over the LoM.
Mining will begin on the hanging wall side of the minable resource body and progress toward the resource. Once extraction is complete, the remaining waste on the footwall will be removed alongside the development of a sinking ramp or access road to reach the next bench below.
Phased pit sequencing will be employed to ensure an efficient transition, with lower waste stripping in the early years.
Minable resources will be transported to the ROM pad situated north of the pit. Overburden and topsoil will be placed in designated management facilities, while waste rock will be stored in sequential waste rock management facilities.
Low-grade ROM material will be stockpiled temporarily within the management facilities and processed in the final years of the LoM.
Mining operations are planned over 17 years from the commencement of commercial production. Processing of low-grade stockpiles will extend the project’s life by an additional four years.
Processing
The processing schedule aims for an average concentrator feed of 1.7Mt per year, or 4,650 tonnes per day (tpd), using a cut-off grade of 0.75% Li₂O.
Adina Project will aim to mine and process 35.8Mt of mineralised material with an average grade of 1.24%Li₂O, yielding 5.6 Mt of spodumene concentrate, equivalent to 1.1 Mt of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE).
The Scoping Study explores the potential of utilising the existing processing infrastructure at the Renard Operation for spodumene concentrate production.
This will involve certain modifications to adapt the plant for Adina’s spodumene-bearing pegmatite.
Although several existing processing stages can be integrated into lithium processing.
The process plant is expected to produce an average of 256,000 tonnes per annum of 5.5% Li₂O spodumene concentrate over the LoM using a crushing and dense media separation (DMS) flowsheet.
ROM mineralised material will be transported from Adina to a ROM storage facility at Renard, where it will be sorted based on its characteristics. A front-end loader will then feed the material into the primary crusher ROM bin.
The modified processing circuit will include three-stage crushing; two-stage ore sorting; two-stage dense media separation (DMS); concentrate cleaning via magnetic separation and upflow classification; concentrate handling and loading; and dewatering and handling of processed pegmatite.
Initially, processed pegmatite will be stored in the repurposed Modified Kimberlite Containment 1 (MPKC1), renamed the Processed Pegmatite Containment Facility (PPC1). Once PPC1 reaches capacity, a second facility, PPC2, will be constructed to accommodate the remaining processed material.
Contractors Involved
The scoping study was prepared by Synectiq with contributions from Global Commodity Solutions, DRA Global and G Mining Services.
Metallurgical test work programmes were undertaken at SGS Canada, a testing, inspection and certification company.
