Prospect commences pilot plant to produce high purity petalite & spodumene
Prospect Resources Limited, African Lithium Developer has announced that it has secured long-lead equipment items and is commencing the pilot plant project at the Company’s Arcadia Lithium Mine (“Arcadia”) to produce high purity petalite and spodumene samples.
In a press statement Prospect’s Managing Director Sam Hosack said the plant is expected to produce bulk samples of 500tonnes of petalite and 120tonnes of spodumene concentrate on customer qualification.
“Our current key focus is to operate a pilot plant to replicate the Arcadia flowsheet to produce high purity petalite and spodumene. The pilot plant delivers a number of key objectives for customers, project finance parties, and investors in de-risking the Arcadia project. It is a major milestone that we have secured the long-lead purchases.”
He further added that the processing technology has the ability to produce high purity products at planned volumes and samples are to be sent to current and potential offtake partners in H1 2021.
Furthermore, the design of the pilot plant is based on flotation test work done by ANZAPLAN and scaled up to a pilot plant size by the Beijing General Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy (BGRIMM) using proven flotation technology solutions.
Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) will be undertaken using information gathered from the pilot plant which will determine the phasing, scale of growth and nominal capacity of the Arcadia project.
It is planned that FEED will be completed in H1 2021, which will include a period of operational observation and modifications, improvements or enhancements identified during the piloting phase will be adequately incorporated into the FEED study.
Prospect will utilize its existing shed facility to house the pilot plant, a number of the key equipment items such as milling and crushing have been sourced in the country, further simplifying the execution plan.