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Zulu Plant to Produce 1,376 tons of Concentrate before remedial upgrades

Zulu Plant to Produce 1,376 tons of Concentrate before remedial upgrades

Premier African Minerals 2

Premier African Minerals Limited, is pleased to provide a further update on progress at Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project.

Highlights

·   

Plant provider has recommended staged approach to optimisation.

·   

First Spodumene (SC6) shipments now scheduled for June 2023.

·   

Final optimisation now expected in Quarter 4 of 2023 following plant modifications.

·   

Production from Spodumene float circuit expected to increase by 25% after final optimisation.

·   

Mining operations continue to confirm resource model.

George Roach, CEO commented, “The process plant is fully commissioned and capable of producing concentrate. The Plant Supplier has advised that the milling and sizing component of the plant requires certain limited modifications to allow for full optimisation to design capacity throughput. The Plant Supplier has provided details and timelines for this remedial action and pending completion of this work, has advised that expected production of concentrate to 30 June 2023 will be 1,376 tons and production for July and August will be 1,137 tons per month, increasing to 2,359 tons in September, 3,577 tons in October 2023 and 4,471 tons from 1 December 2023.

At present concentrate prices and production at these current levels to the end of August, the Company expects Zulu to operate profitably.

The modifications include the upgrade of screening, relocation of the mill and addition of cyclones to remove correctly sized material to the floatation plant. Premier understands that the costs associated with this remedial action will be met by the plant supplier, and we will work with them to ensure that the plant achieves nameplate throughput expeditiously.

As announced on 29 March 2023, Premier’s requirements to supply spodumene to Canmax Technologies Co., Ltd. (“Canmax”) are to ship first product by 30 May 2023 (which will not now be met), failing which CanMax may elect to cancel the Marketing and Pre-Payment Agreement and require that the prepayment plus interest is settled within 90 days following notice. Canmax has always been supportive of Premier, and we continue to engage with them and look forward to first shipment in June 2023.

While frustrated with the timeline for putting the plant into full production, I am encouraged by our growing confidence in our resource and mining operations, near completion of our dam and tailings facility, performance of the crushing, sorting, and floatation elements of the plant.

The Company has previously advised that the delays had caused our cash to be constrained. Recent exercise of options and issue of remaining shares free from pre-emptive rights by way of direct placement, has provided interim relief to this position. Alternative further funding may need to be sought if there are any further significant shipment delays.”

Drill Holes: Lithium & Tantalum Results

The table below sets out the composites determined, as per the outlined compositing routine in the text below the table, from analyses received from the independent external laboratory (SGS) for holes ZDD149, ZDD154, MIDI-GT-05A, MIDI-GT-06, MIDI-GT-07, MIDI-GT-08, ZT005, ZT011 & ZT012.

Table 1 -Assay Summary Results

Hole

From (m)

To (m

Width* (m)

Li2O%

Ta2O5 ppm

Rb ppm

MDI-GT-05A

195.90

209.55

13.65

1.86

127

539

MDI-GT-06

67.60

75.55

7.95

1.34

77

1161

MDI-GT-06

125.40

132.55

7.15

1.33

75

1565

MDI-GT-07

48.87

54.32

5.45

1.41

76

1652

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MDI-GT-07

70.00

75.64

5.64

1.03

45

1585

MDI-GT-07

79.33

88.20

8.87

0.87

112

1689

Incl.

80.33

 

81.33

 

1.00

1.68

 

167

 

1301

 

MDI-GT-07

104.25

106.82

2.57

1.26

45

1092

MDI-GT-07

117.30

120.24

2.94

1.91

62

1399

Incl.

117.30

 

118.30

 

1.00

 

3.23

 

79

 

1677

 

MDI-GT-07

 

131.77

140.20

8.26

1.14

111

1088

Incl.

132.77

 

133.84

 

1.07

1.92

 

2

 

771

 

MDI-GT-08

90.10

96.10

6.00

0.95

85

1522

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Incl.

92.10

 

93.10

 

1.00

 

1.88

 

123

 

1635

 

MDI-GT-08

130.68

133.61

2.93

2.18

32

393

MDI-GT-08

137.45

146.55

9.10

1.52

56

1471

Incl.

140.00

 

141.85

 

1.85

 

2.32

 

102

 

1234

 

ZDD149

 

295.56

297.88

2.32

1.20

18

2408

ZDD149

300.19

302.52

2.33

1.25

53

433

ZDD154

222.32

229.18

6.86

1.60

72

667

ZT005

22.00

24.00

2.00

1.20

72

1800

ZT005

27.60

30.10

2.50

0.66

58

1140

ZT005

35.40

38.00

2.60

1.43

54

1312

See Also
AMMZ Mimosa

ZT005

42.60

47.50

4.90

0.53

85

1657

ZT011

71.11

73.50

2.39

0.87

53

3550

ZT012

35.71

41.00

5.29

0.54

58

2776

 

*Not True Width but drilled width

**0.50% Li2O cut-off applied.

The following compositing routine has been applied:

·                   

0.50% Li2O cut-off was applied to the pegmatitic intersections only.

·                   

<2m standalone composites at the cut-off grade but with an overall weighted average grade of >0.5% Li2O are not reported.

·                   

Within any composite of >2m thickness, high-grade intersections of 1m and greater are reported provided the high-grade intersection is a multiple of x 1.5 of the overall weighted composite grade, and

·                   

Within any composite, inclusions of country rock of <2m thickness are included within the composite provided the overall grade of the composite is not <0.50% Li2O.

The following Table 3 sets out the drill hole collar coordinates for the drill holes reported in Table 1 above:

Table 2 – Drill Holes Collar Coordinates

Dhole

UTM 35S*

Easting

UTM 35S*

Northing

Elevation (AMSL)

Azimuth TN (°)

Collar Dip

       (°)

EOH

(m)

MDI-GT-05A

751164.023

7782864.865

1341.68

19.41

-69.68

250.1

MDI-GT-06

751095.609

7782404.083

1316.569

153.92

-71.25

202.48

MDI-GT-07

751167.197

7782345.715

1313.152

217.4

-67.48

202.58

MDI-GT-08

751109.254

7782250.679

1324.084

194.27

-70.48

151.68

ZDD149

750709.986

7782110.631

1328.076

105.94

-50.76

361.68

ZDD154

751077.739

7782108.867

1320.744

291.6

-53.56

251.48

ZT005

751196.456

7782304.848

1312.501

290

0

127.00

ZT011

751226.4069

7782721.784

1331.701

290

0

98.00

ZT012

751199.5709

7782684.17

1326.97

290

0

80.50

 * ARC1950 Datum (10m local datum shift)

The Geology of Zulu

The area, located in the Fort Rixon Greenstone Belt, is underlain by Archaean-aged meta-volcanics and meta-sedimentary sequences of the Bulawayan Supergroup, with serpentinites and banded iron formations at the base in the east and metamorphosed volcano-sedimentary sequences to the west. The greenstone belt is tear drop shaped measuring 30 km long and 19 km wide near the broad section at the top. Metamorphism is retrograded to Greenschist facies.

The Zulu Pegmatite is a LCT (Lithium-Caesium-Tantalum) pegmatite swarm which intrudes along the contacts between serpentine and metamorphosed volcano-sedimentary sequences over a strike length of several kilometres. Outcrop widths vary between 10 and 50m. The pegmatite bodies strike N20° and dip 70° to 90° to the west.

The area was first pegged in 1955 by J.S. Willemse and intensely explored, under option, by mapping, trenching, and drilling by Rhodesian Selection Trust Co. Ltd. (“RST”) in 1958. In 1961 and 1962 a small quantity of petalite from the River Pegmatites (see below) was mined by W. Burchett in partnership with J.S. Willemse. Premier later acquired the claims in 2013.

Recent mapping and interpretation of the pegmatite swarm from semi-quantitative X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) has identified three distinct phases of pegmatites. A spodumene-rich, thick pegmatite named the Main Zone which lies north and south of the Machakwe River, footwall low-spodumene pegmatites with associated tantalum and rubidium and a suite of petalite-bearing pegmatites of short strike length, named the River Pegmatites.

In general, the lithium minerals, occurring in varying quantities, are coarse grained with associated feldspars and quartz with only very minor sulphides being observed. In several contact zones, the lithium-bearing amphibole, holmquistite, has been observed.

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