Premier ready to construct Zulu pilot plant
Premier African Minerals is geared to construct its pilot plant at Zulu Lithium and Tantalum project in Fort Rixon as the area for the construction of the plant has already been cleared and is ready for commissioning.
Rudairo Mapuranga
In June, Chinese-owned Suzhou TA&A Ultra Clean Technology company agreed to provide a pre-funding amount of US$34,644,385 (“Pre-Payment Amount”) to enable the construction and commissioning of the large-scale pilot plant at Zulu.
Commenting on the prepayment agreement Premier African Minerals CEO George Roach said Suzhou TA&A pledged to dispense an initial US$3 MILLION into the commencement of the pilot project.
“Upon the signing of the Agreement, US$3,450,000 has been made immediately to Premier to commission the securing of the pilot plant. The remaining balance of the Pre-Payment Amount will be paid in one lump sum following the completion of the transaction documents. Both Premier and Suzhou TA&A have agreed to use their best endeavours to complete the definitive transaction documents within one month of the Agreement failing which on written notice by Suzhou TA&A, Premier will be required to immediately refund the amount of US$3,450,000 to Suzhou TA&A from existing funds held by Premier,” he said.
Repayment of the Pre-Payment Amount will be made by Premier from all residual funds from invoices raised by Suzhou TA&A from each monthly Accounting Period following the deduction of agreed Deductible Expenses incurred at the Zulu Project (being all costs and expenditures incurred including government royalties) and management fees to be paid to Premier until the Pre-Payment amount has been fully refunded.
The Pilot Plant
The pilot plant to be commissioned will utilise state-of-the-art sensor-based ore sorting technologies that will facilitate the separation of run-of-mine material into components and in so doing, likely increase available capacity in the flotation recovery circuits, where lithium minerals are recovered. Ultimate production and recoveries are a factor of many variables, and the pilot plant is likely to assist in dealing with these variables due to the inherent flexibility of the use of multiple ore sorters. Stockpiles of tantalum, petalite and Mica/lepidolite-rich material will facilitate further test work and flow sheet development to ensure that this material is truly inventory for later profitable recovery.
The pilot plant has a nameplate throughput of up to 190 tons per hour, however, it is planned to run at a more conservative 140 tons per hour at inception. At this rate and based on a 3-year life of the pilot plant operations only, excluding plant upgrades, tantalum recovery, petalite production and any other revenue, a series of sensitivities indicate a robust project and an assurance that Premier will become cash generative from the time of the first shipment.