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Piedmont Lithium Updates Scoping Study

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Piedmont Lithium (ASX: PLL) reported results of an updated Scoping Study for the company’s vertically integrated lithium hydroxide chemical project located in North Carolina, USA.

The updated Scoping Study included a steady-state 22,700 tonnes per annum lithium hydroxide (LiOH) chemical plant supported by a mine/concentrator producing 160,000 tonnes per annum of six per cent lithium oxide (Li2O) spodumene concentrate.

By-products quartz, feldspar, and mica will provide credits to the cost of lithium production.

The Scoping Study features:

Integrated project to produce 22,700 tonnes per annum of LiOH;
25-year project life with two years of concentrate-only sales and 23 years of integrated operations plus more than 100 per cent increase in life-of-project LiOH production compared with prior studies;
First quartile operating costs, including lithium hydroxide cash costs of US$3,105 per tonne (AISC of US$3,565 per tonne) and spodumene concentrate cash costs of US$199 per tonne (AISC of US$238 per tonne);
Exceptional project economics of NPV of US$1.45 billion, after-tax IRR of 34 per cent, and steady-state annual average EBITDA of US$298 million;
Mine/Concentrator engineering and metallurgical testwork completed to PFS-level; and
Conventional technology selection in all project aspects.

The integrated Piedmont project is projected to have an average life of project all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of approximately $3,565 per tonne, including royalties and net of by-product credits, which the company claims should position it as the industry’s lowest-cost producer.

Piedmont believes the Scoping Study demonstrates the integrated project’s strong commercial potential, and now puts the company in a strong position to engage in discussions around future financing of the project, including with prospective strategic and off-take partners.

“We are very pleased with the results of the updated Scoping Study, which reflect the benefits of a 25-year mine life, a refined concentrator flow sheet and PFS-level engineering and metallurgy,” Piedmont Lithium president and CEO Keith D. Phillips said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The economic benefit of developing an integrated lithium chemical business in North Carolina, USA is clear, driven by the exceptional infrastructure and human resource advantages of our location, as well as the competitive royalty and tax regime offered in the United States.

“Recent corporate transactions (i.e. Wesfarmers/Kidman and Albemarle/Wodgina) have reinforced the wisdom of the company’s integrated business strategy.

“We will continue to progress our Mine/Concentrator through the permitting and feasibility processes, but we will now redouble our efforts on the strategic front by accelerating our lithium hydroxide testwork and intensifying the initial strategic discussions we have had with a broad array of potential strategic, offtake and financial partners.”

 

 

Email: info@piedmontlithium.com.au

Website: www.piedmontlithium.com.au

 

Piedmont Lithium Increases By-Product Mineral Resources

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Piedmont Lithium (ASX: PLL) provided an update to the initial by-product Mineral Resource estimate the company reported in September 2018.

Piedmont Lithium announced updated Mineral Resource estimates for mineral by-products quartz, feldspar and mica from spodumene bearing pegmatites on the company’s wholly-owned Core property located within the Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt (TSB) in North Carolina, USA.

The company said the by-product Mineral Resource estimates were based on normative mineralogy compositions from 326 drill holes previously analysed for lithium.

Source: Company announcement

In June 2019, Piedmont reported an updated lithium Mineral Resource for the Core property of 25.1 million tonnes at 1.09 per cent lithium oxide (Li2O).

Piedmont explained that the by-products and lithium Mineral Resource estimates utilise the same geologic model and that it was now updating the project’s Scoping Study, which will include the updated by-product resources and the June 2019 lithium resource.

“The historic lithium mines in the Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt generated a material portion of their economics from the sale of by-product minerals quartz, feldspar and mica to the large, local south-eastern US industrial markets,” Piedmont Lithium president and CEO Keith D. Phillips said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“These markets have continued to grow and are currently served in part by high-cost imported material.

“We expect by-products to represent a significant – and unique – opportunity for Piedmont, and I would note that in our Scoping Study dated September 12, 2018 the by-product credits effectively reduced our cash production costs of lithium hydroxide by more than US$750 per tonne, and we expect a similar impact in our study update due next week.”

 

Email: info@piedmontlithium.com

Website: www.piedmontlithium.com

 

Piedmont Lithium Increases Resources by 47 per cent

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Piedmont Lithium (ASX: PLL) released a major update to the Mineral Resource estimate for the company’s wholly-owned Piedmont lithium project located within the Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt (TSB) in North Carolina, USA.

Piedmont Lithium has increased the Mineral Resource for the Core property to 25.1 million tonnes at 1.09 per cent lithium oxide (Li2O), bringing the project’s total Mineral Resources to 27.9 million tonnes at 1.11 per cent Li2O, containing 309,000 tonnes of lithium oxide or 764,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) the benchmark used in the lithium industry.

The company highlighted that 74 per cent of the Core Mineral Resource sits within 100 metres of surface and 97 per cent is within 150m of surface.

Approximately 50 per cent (12.5 million tonnes) of the Mineral Resource is classified in the Indicated Resource category.

All Mineral Resource tonnes at both the Core and Central properties are attributable to spodumene mineralisation.

Piedmont says it expects to complete a pre-feasibility level metallurgical testwork program followed by a Scoping Study update in July.

“We are very pleased with the resource update at our Core property, bringing our total project-wide resources to 27.9 million tonnes at 1.11 per cent lithium oxide,” Piedmont Lithium president and chief executive officer Keith D. Phillips said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“As we expand our land holdings and drill out other highly prospective targets, we are optimistic that we will ultimately identify North America’s largest spodumene ore body.

“This scale, combined with high grade, strong mineralogy and metallurgy, and our superior location in North Carolina, all support the unique strategic nature of the Piedmont lithium project.”

 

Email: info@piedmontlithium.com

Website: www.piedmontlithium.com

 

Piedmont Lithium Confirms Ore Body Pure Spodumene Nature

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Piedmont Lithium (ASX: PLL) completed mineralogical testing, comprising semi-quantitative and quantitative x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, on samples of mineralised pegmatites and composite samples from the company’s Core, Central, and Sunnyside properties in North Carolina, USA.

Piedmont dais it has been advised that the relatively pure spodumene character of its ore body is unusual and highly positive, allowing for a simplified flowsheet to produce strong lithium recoveries.

A total of 36 samples of mineralised pegmatites were collected from Piedmont’s Core, Central, and Sunnyside properties.

The resulting data demonstrated the Piedmont ore body to not contain any petalite, lepidolite, or zinnwaldite – non-spodumene lithium bearing minerals concentrate under different operating conditions than spodumene when processing with dense medium or flotation.

The company explained that petalite (4.86% lithium dioxide (Li2O)) and lepidolite (7.7% Li2O) have lower lithium content than spodumene (8.03%).

Because the numbers are in its favour, Piedmont expects to maintain both high lithium concentrate grades and recoveries at the company’s planned concentrator in part due to the absence of petalite or other lithium bearing minerals.

“As the market’s understanding of lithium processing evolves, it will become increasingly clear that mineralogy and metallurgy are the fundamental building blocks of a successful hard-rock lithium business,” Piedmont Lithium president and CEO Keith D. Phillips said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Our testwork confirms what we have always suspected – the Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt is exceptional not only in scale but in terms of mineralogy.

“When combined with the shallow nature of our ore body and the capital and operating cost advantages of our location, we are excited about the upcoming resource, metallurgical and scoping study updates.”

 

Email: info@piedmontlithium.com

Website: www.piedmontlithium.com

 

Piedmont Lithium Progresses Core Property Resource Drilling

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Piedmont Lithium (ASX: PLL) announced Phase 4 drill results for the company’s Piedmont lithium project located within the Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt (TSB) in North Carolina, USA.

Piedmont Lithium completed 41 drill holes at the project’s Core property, encountering mineralisation in 40.

The company said the Phase 4 drilling had continued to expand the extent and continuity of the pegmatite system on Core, providing confidence of a substantial Mineral Resource estimate update in June.

The company explained the primary objective for the Phase 4 drilling program on Core is to increase the size of the current Core Mineral Resource estimate of 16.2 million tonnes at 1.12 per cent lithium oxide (Li2O) and extend the overall projected life-of-mine.

“We are very pleased with these interim results from Phase 4 drilling, which continue to highlight high-grade mineralisation near surface,” Piedmont Lithium president and chief executive officer Keith D. Phillips said I the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The shallow nature of the ore body, combined with pure spodumene mineralogy, local by-product markets and exceptional infrastructure, are important factors which should position the Piedmont lithium project in the first quartile of the cost curve.

“We look forward to reporting a significant increase to our property-wide resource in June, and to reflecting that enlarged resource in an updated scoping study in July.”

 

Email: info@piedmontlithium.com

Website: www.piedmontlithium.com

 

Piedmont Lithium Boosts Project Resource

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Piedmont Lithium (ASX: PLL) announced an initial Mineral Resource estimate for the company’s Central property in North Carolina, in the United States.

Piedmont Lithium declared the estimate at 2.8 million tonnes at 1.34 per cent lithium oxide (Li2O) claiming approximately 50 per cent – around 1.41 million tonnes – of the Mineral Resource being classified in the Indicated Resource category.

The company said the Central Mineral Resource estimate (MRE) was based on 18 diamond core holes and the deposit remains open in all directions.

Piedmont Lithium declared its project-wide Mineral Resources now total 19 million tonnes at 1.15 per cent Li2O.

“We are very pleased with the initial high-grade Mineral Resource Estimate at Central,” Piedmont Lithium president and CEO Keith D. Phillips said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“This is a property with great potential and the MRE is based on only 18 drill holes, 16 of which encountered thick, high-grade mineralisation.

“We hope to expand our land holdings in this area and ultimately drill out a substantially larger resource at Central.

“Phase 4 drilling continues with three rigs operating on the Core property and we expect a material resource upgrade in June.

“The Piedmont project is quickly becoming one of the largest hard-rock lithium projects in North America, while enjoying all the benefits of our unique North Carolina, USA location.”

 

Email: info@piedmontlithium.com

Website: www.piedmontlithium.com