AIM-listed mining and exploration company Premier African Minerals Limited has announced a major step toward stabilising operations at its flagship Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project in Fort Rixon, revealing plans to acquire and install a secondary flotation plant as part of its ongoing optimisation drive, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
The decision follows an engineering audit currently underway at Zulu, aimed at assessing pumping efficiency, water and mass balance, and overall plant performance. The audit team has concluded its site work and is expected to deliver a high-level interim report within days, followed by a full engineering report in the coming week.
According to Premier, the audit’s findings—together with ongoing commercial discussions with its offtake and prepayment partner, Canmax Technologies—will be critical in determining whether the current flotation plant can achieve sustainable commercial production at target grade and tonnage levels in the short term.
Despite expressing confidence that the current flotation plant could eventually meet design capacity, Premier noted that financial constraints have necessitated immediate action. The company has opted to acquire, install, and commission a 15–20 tonnes-per-hour (TPH) flotation plant manufactured by Xinhai Technology Processing EPC, currently located in Harare.
The secondary flotation plant employs a proven metallurgical recovery process similar to those used successfully at other Zimbabwean operations processing comparable ore. Once installed, it is expected to complement the existing flotation plant, potentially expanding overall design capacity and improving performance stability.
Premier’s Managing Director, Graham Hill, said the engineering audit has been essential in identifying and correcting imbalances across the existing process plant.
“My conviction has been that in order to achieve stable and consistent operations, all parts of the plant need to be balanced in terms of mass and water flows,” Hill said.
“The audit team is providing practical engineering suggestions, and with the recent modifications, we remain hopeful that the current plant can achieve pre-production readiness. The secondary flotation plant will supplement these efforts and give us the best opportunity to reach consistent commercial output.”
Hill added that his decision to proceed with the secondary flotation plant followed detailed assessment and negotiations in October, aimed at securing an immediate path to reliable production.
