The lithium explorer and developer bought itself in August an extra three months to decide whether it would or buy the past-producing mine, and today’s announcement suggests it would move in that direction.
Repurposing the existing dense media separation (DMS) and ore sorting facilities at Renard would be substantially cheaper than developing Adina from scratch, the study shows. It would involve a relatively simple upgrade to use the DMS circuit to produce 282,000 tonnes per annum of 5.5% spodumene concentrate (38,000tpa lithium carbonate equivalent) over the mine life.
“The ease of mining mineralized material at Adina via an initial low strip open pit along with the simple DMS flowsheet results in a competitive operating cost estimate, which optimization may improve further,” managing director Chris Evans said in the statement.
The executive noted the plant provides a significant commercial advantage compared to other…
