The Board of Premier African Minerals Limited provided this update in regard to Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project (“Zulu”) where the Company is targeting revenue-generating production by February 2024 following the installation of the 55 tons per hour ball mill and other associated structures which is currently expected to be completed by late January/early February 2024.
George Roach, CEO commented: “With these upgrades at Zulu, we expect to rectify the most significant of the deficiencies in the original plant design and be able to mill sufficient material to the correct particle size to meet the design capacity for the float plant of 37.5 ton per hour of dry solids.
At the same time, attention is being paid to many other aspects of the original design and equipment schedule and to mining procedures to ensure that spodumene floated meets specifications and to limit contamination of waste material (and in particular talc) that was not previously removed in the sorting process. Talc contamination that constituted the major concern originated from Serpentinite that should have been removed in the ore sorting process.
Our target completion date of late January/early February 2024 stands, with the Company and the Original Equipment Manufacturer all fully committed to this timeline. The civil construction for the thickener is effectively complete and the required reinforcing and concrete works for the new mill are well underway. We do not expect any delays with the civil construction.
It is important to note that in repeated test work Zulu demonstrates that production of spodumene to grade and within specifications is attainable and the Board believes that our anticipated SC6 production is now within our grasp. Particularly important is the fact that as previously reported, our on-site laboratory has produced SC6 at the required level and in particular at 5.7% Li20 from unsorted material and when hand sorting is used to simulate the effect of properly functioning ore sorters, we are able to produce spodumene concentrate at a Li20 grade of 7.4%.
Also important is the fact that our Offtake and Prepayment Partner remains extremely supportive and this is evidenced by the fact that they have not called for payment related to the delayed delivery. In this regard, no further statement is anticipated.”
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (“UK MAR”).
The person who arranged the release of this announcement on behalf of the Company was George Roach.
A copy of this announcement is available at the Company’s website, www.premierafricanminerals.com
