Zulu Lithium Update
Premier African Minerals Limited (“Premier” or the “Company”), provides an update on the first production at Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project (“Zulu”).
George Roach, CEO commented, “Two issues have delayed production this past weekend. The first is one final approval from a Zimbabwean authority who is working closely with Zulu to ensure that the approval is provided as soon as possible.
The second is the late delivery of one outstanding reagent. This was short-ordered due to an error on the part of the plant supplier as announced on the 29 March 2023. The reagent is freely available but not in Africa and complications related to airfreight of a chemical substance has caused this delay. It must be noted that the delay on this reagent does not necessarily stop the production of spodumene, however it will affect the grade of spodumene concentrate produced.
We believe that the above issues will be resolved in the coming days and will update the market thereafter.”
Floatation for concentration of Spodumene.
The flowsheet for spodumene production in simplified terms requires that the ROM ore is milled to less than 200 micron and then processed in the floatation circuits. The ore contains a mica rich component that includes lepidolite and this should be removed in the first stages of the floatation process. The material that is free of the mica component is then passed to the spodumene floatation circuit that will normally produce SC6. The missing reagent is essential for the recovery and concentration of the mica/lepidolite fraction.
Whilst the mica circuit can be completely bypassed, the concentrate grade that would be achieved in the spodumene circuits would be lower than 6% and would contain contaminants. Whilst likely saleable in the present environment, this is not what Zulu intends to produce.
The person who arranged the release of this announcement on behalf of the Company was George Roach.
Enquiries:
George Roach
Premier African Minerals Limited
Tel: +27 (0) 100 201 281
