お知らせ • Aug 30
Critical Elements Lithium Corporation Announces New Positive Feasibility Study for the Rose Lithium Project Generating an After-Tax NPV8% of USD 2.2B and an After-Tax IRR of 65.7%
Critical Elements Lithium Corporation announced the results of a new Feasibility Study on the Rose Lithium-Tantalum project in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, Québec. The management of Critical Elements, with its new highly qualified technical team led by Yves Perron as Vice President of Engineering, Construction and Operations, brings a deep level of knowledge and expertise to the engineering process (particularly in mining operations, process, environment, design, estimation and project control). This new study replaces the Feasibility Study announced by the Corporation on June 13, 2022. Noteworthy changes include: (i) the increased indexation of industrial construction prices, (ii) the addition of certain process equipment to increase operational reliability and (iii) the addition of the scope change of the Project by incorporating the construction of company's own 500-worker camp 4 km from the mine site. The completion of the Feasibility Study on the spodumene plant is the first step to entering the market and establish the Corporation as a reliable high-quality lithium supplier. The low-risk approach is characterized by simple open-pit mining and conventional lithium processing technologies. Critical Elements has consistently sought to advance the wholly-owned Rose Lithium-Tantalum Project in a low-risk manner. To this end, the Corporation has completed a new Feasibility Study with a conservative spodumene concentrate price deck, as well as capital and operating cost estimates reflective of current market conditions. The new Feasibility Study incorporates a standard truck and shovel open-pit mining operation and conventional lithium processing technologies. The Project will produce technical grade spodumene concentrate for the glass and ceramics industry and chemical grade spodumene concentrate for conversion for use in batteries for e-mobility, as well as a tantalite concentrate. The mine will excavate a total of 26.3M tonnes ore grading an average of 0.87% Li2O and 138 ppm Ta2O5 after dilution. The mill will process 1.61M tonnes of ore per year to produce an annual average of 203,765 tonnes of technical and chemical grade spodumene concentrates and 580 tonnes of tantalite concentrates. The ore is contained in several parallel and continuous shallow dipping pegmatite dykes outcropping on surface. The ore zones are open at depth and a future underground operation is possible. Over the life of mine, the open pit will excavate a total of 182.4M tonnes of waste rock and 10.9 M tonnes of overburden. The average strip ratio is 7.3 tonnes of waste per tonne of ore. Property The Rose property is located in northern Québec's administrative region, on the territory of Eeyou Istchee James Bay. It is located on Category III land, on the Traditional Lands of the Eastmain Community, approximately 40 km north of the Cree village of Nemaska. The Rose property comprises 473 claims spread over a 24,654-ha area. Geologically, the Rose property is located at the north-east end of the Archean Lake Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. The parameters used for the Feasibility Study are the following: Open pit mining rate of 1,610,000 tpy of ore Spodumene process plant with a 4,600 tpd capacity Mining Operation The mineralization is hosted within outcropping pegmatite dykes subparallel to surface. The ore body is relatively flat, close to surface and comprised of north oriented stacked lenses. Mineralization recognized to date on the Rose property includes rare elements of Lithium-Cesium-Tantalum or LCT-type pegmatites and molybdenum occurrences. A conventional truck and shovel open-pit approach was considered to mine the Rose Lithium-Tantalum Project's Probable Mineral Reserves. The dimensions of the engineered pit design are approximately 1,620 m long x 900 m wide x 220 m deep. The life of mine plan (LOM) proposes to mine 26.3 Mt of ore, 182.4 Mt of waste, and 10.9 Mt of overburden for a total of 219.6 Mt of material. The average stripping ratio is 7.3 tonnes of waste per tonne of ore. The nominal production rate is estimated at 4,600 tonnes per day and 350 operating days per year. The mining operation production rate is set to approximately 15 Mt of material per year. An open pit mining schedule was planned and resulted in a mine life of 17 years. The main in-pit haulage ramp is designed at 30.9 m wide to allow a double-lane traffic, except for the last benches at the pit bottom that are designed at 20.4 m wide for single lane traffic. A 2 m drainage ditch is included to allow for water drainage and pipe installation. The beneficiation process includes crushing, grinding, magnetic separation and flotation. The crushing circuit will consist of a jaw crusher and two (secondary and tertiary) cone crushers, and screens. The crushed ore will have a P80 of 13 mm and will be stockpiled in a 24-hour live capacity dome. The grinding circuit will consist of a ball mill operating in a closed circuit with a set of cyclones. The tantalum will first be recovered at a grade of 2.0% Ta2O5 by high intensity magnetic separation then upgraded further to 20.0% Ta2O5 by gravity separation. Tantalum concentrate will be thickened, filtered, dried to 1% moisture, and bagged for shipment. The lithium flotation circuit will include removal of slimes (particles less than 20 um) after magnetic separation followed by mica flotation, scrubbing, and spodumene flotation to the required grades. The spodumene concentrate will then be thickened, pressure filtered with a 5% moisture content, and stored in a dome with a capacity of 24 hours and then be transported by trucks and trains to the port. The flotation tailings will be thickened, vacuum filtered to 15% moisture or less, and trucked to the waste rock /tailings piles where it will be dry stacked. The spodumene plant will operate 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and 52 weeks per year. The process plant was designed with an operating availability of 90%. Three composites: the Rose (main structure), the Rose Sud-Est (Southeast structure), and Tantalum (secondary structure with higher tantalum and lower lithium content) were subjected to various metallurgical tests. SGS Canada Inc. in Lakefield conducted tests from 2013 to 2015 to improve lithium and tantalum recoveries. Water from the waste rock /dry tailings stockpile, the open pit, the industrial pad, the overburden stockpile, and the roads will be collected in an equalization pond and treated before being released as final effluent. The mine site will have a 2.7 km main access road from the Eastmain 1 road to the industrial pad. Including the service roads, the site will total 16 km of roads. A 315 kV electrical transport line (L3176), owned by Hydro-Québec, runs North-South over the eastern side of the Rose Property. It runs over the planned open pit. The portion running over the open pit representing 4.2 km will be rerouted to allow open pit operation.