Premier African Minerals Limited (AIM: PREM) has entered into a contract with Thriving Engineering Private Limited for the supply, installation, and commissioning of a spodumene flotation plant at its Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project in Zimbabwe.
The agreement includes a process performance guarantee, with payments tied to meeting key operational targets, including spodumene concentrate grade, recovery rates, and a throughput capacity of 15–20 tonnes per hour. Commissioning and optimization of the plant are expected to take place in the second quarter of 2026.
Graham Hill, Managing Director, commented, “As we have previously communicated, our focus at Zulu is firmly on improving the stability and consistency of overall processing performance. Whilst the concluding of this agreement with the Contractor has taken a little longer than planned the intervening period has provided opportunity for a combination of detailed technical discussions and the need to ensure that the appropriate contractual protections, including performance-related provisions, were properly aligned with our operational requirements and validation of funding.
Importantly, the contractual framework now in place provides for commissioning to be undertaken against defined performance criteria, with elements of payment linked to the achievement of those outcomes. We believe that this structure appropriately aligns Contractor incentives with delivery of the processing performance we require and represents a further step in the Company’s ongoing focus on stabilising and optimising processing performance at the Project. The agreement allows for completion of all works, commissioning and optimisation within the time frame of the Long Stop Date as announced on the 5th January 2026.”
