More equipment for Zulu Lithium
Premier African Minerals Limited has taken delivery of more steel structures for its mill installation as the lithium firm is targeting revenue generating production by February following the installation of the 55 tonnes per hour ball mill and other associated structures expected to be completed within two months.
The mining entity has its operations at Fort Rixon lithium mine in Matabeleland South Province.
In November last year, the mine said plant operations had been partially suspended to allow for civil construction to commence in preparation for the installation of the 55 tonnes per hour ball mill and other associated structures.
On Thursday, the firm shared pictures of trucks delivering more steel structures for its mill installation at the mining site.
In an update in December, the chief executive officer, Mr George Roach said the upgrades are meant to rectify the most significant of the deficiencies in the original plant design.
“With these upgrades at Zulu, we expect to rectify the most significant of the deficiencies in the original plant design and be able to mill sufficient material to the correct particle size to meet the design capacity for the float plant of 37,5 tonnes per hour of dry solids,” he said.
Mr Roach added that attention is being paid to many other aspects of the original design and equipment schedule and to mining procedures to ensure that spodumene floated meets specifications and to limit contamination of waste material (and in particular talc) that was not previously removed in the sorting process.
“Talc contamination that constituted the major concern originated from Serpentinite that should have been removed in the ore sorting process.”
Mr Roach said the target completion date of late January/early February stands, with the Company and the Original Equipment Manufacturer all fully committed to this timeline.
“The civil construction for the thickener is effectively complete and the required reinforcing and concrete works for the new mill are well underway. We do not expect any delays with the civil construction.
“It is important to note that in repeated test work Zulu demonstrates that production of spodumene to grade and within specifications is attainable and the Board believes that our anticipated SC6 production is now within our grasp.
“Particularly important is the fact that as previously reported, our on-site laboratory has produced SC6 at the required level and in particular at 5,7 percent Li20 from unsorted material and when hand sorting is used to simulate the effect of properly functioning ore sorters, we are able to produce spodumene concentrate at a Li20 grade of 7,4 percent.”
Lithium is the booming mineral in the Zimbabwean mining sector, with world demand rapidly rising as manufacture of lithium-ion batteries soars and Zimbabwe holds one of the largest reserves in Africa of the preferred hard rock deposits and the most easily accessible.
Lithium has already proved its position as a strategic mineral given its role in the storage, use and transfer of energy, which has touched the globe through use of smartphones for global communication, laptops, electric grid stability and storage to power homes and electric vehicles.
Due to the emerging electric motor vehicle industry, there is increased international demand for the lithium mineral known as “white oil”, which is used for manufacturing batteries. -chronicle.cl.zw
