Arcadia Lithium project pilot plant bears fruit
ZIMBABWE focused, Prospect Resources says its Arcadia Lithium project in Goromonzi, Mashonaland East province, has delivered the first 25-tonne container of technical grade petalite concentrate to its offtake partner, Sibelco N.V.
The delivery of the bulk consignment follows the recent completion of the Arcadia Lithium project’s pilot plant.
In an update this week, the Australia-listed mining group said the pilot plant results are consistent with previous laboratory scale test work and confirm the amenability of the Arcadia ore reserves to the production of an ultra-low iron, technical grade petalite concentrate product.
Prospect managing director, Mr Sam Hosack was quoted expressing gratitude over the shipment progress.
“I’m extremely pleased to announce that the Arcadia pilot plant has shipped on-spec technical grade petalite that is now making its way to Sibelco.
“With the plant now generating bulk volumes, the Prospect team are focused on showcasing Arcadia’s petalite to both our potential partners and the largest customers in the global glass and ceramics markets,” he said.
“The final qualification gate we expect to pass will demonstrate to our stakeholders that Arcadia will provide a high quality, long life raw material source for both petalite and spodumene supply chains.”
Mr Hosack said they were also looking forward to announcing the results of the staged optimised feasibility study (OFS) in the next few weeks.
“With partner interest focused on faster ramp-up of the project, the team is also working ward with Lycopodium on the ‘direct to 2,4 metric tonnes per annum’ case, which is due out later this calendar,” he said.
Last year, Prospect announced that it had secured a long-term agreement with Sibelco N.V, the world’s largest industrial minerals solutions company to supply petalite from the Arcadia Lithium project.
It is hoped that the seven-year agreement would see the company supplying 700 000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of high quality, ultra-low iron petalite concentrate during the tenure of the agreement.
The seven-year agreement is for up to 100 000dmt per annum of high quality, ultra-low iron petalite concentrate while the pricing formula for the agreement is linked to the end customer sales contracts with minimum pricing provisions.
The mining concern is on record saying 100 percent of its 2019 Definitive Feasibility Study petalite production for the first seven years was now covered by offtake agreements.
As part of the offtake agreement the parties will annually agree binding delivery quantities, pricing and end-customer contract terms for the following year.
Parties will also share end-customer sales receipts in agreed proportions after recovery of their respective costs.
In addition, Prospect may terminate the contract if Sibelco does not purchase at least 10 000 tonnes of the product in each of two successive quarters for any reason other than that the global market price for petalite is below an agreed price level.
On the other hand, Sibelco may terminate the contract if Prospect does not meet the agreed production levels of product for two successive quarters.
The Arcadia Lithium project represents a globally significant hard rock lithium resource and is being rapidly developed by Prospect, focusing on near term production of petalite and spodumene concentrate.
The Arcadia lithium project, which has been granted a Special Economic Zones status by the Government will create up to 10 000 jobs along the value chain.
The project is set to attract US$165 million in foreign direct investment with potential to generate an estimated US$3 billion income in the first 12 years of operation. – The Chronicle
