Name of the Project
Falchani lithium project.

Location
The Macusani plateau, in the Puno district of south-eastern Peru.

Project Owner/s
American Lithium.

Project Description
Falchani is the sixth-biggest, hard-rock lithium deposit in the world.

An independent preliminary economic assessment (PEA) has demonstrated the project’s ability to become a large, long-life producer of low-cost, high-quality and low-impurity battery-grade lithium carbonate.

The project is highly amenable for development using conventional openpit truck-and-shovel methods.

The base case, which encompasses the entire mineral resource estimate for the Falchani and Ocacasa 4 concessions, envisages the production of 63 000 t/y of battery-grade lithium carbonate over 33 years, increasing to 85 000 t/y at a steady-state throughput of six-million tonnes a year.

The PEA includes the construction of a 1 700 t/d sulphur-burning acid plant on site to produce, on average, 1 500 t/d of sulphuric acid. In subsequent phases, additional modules are added to meet expanded processing capacity.

The PEA also represents an alternative case, which includes only the mineral resources from the Falchani concession. The alternative case will use the same operating parameters, metal price and selling costs, and consists of an openpit mine and an associated processing facility, as well as on- and off-site infrastructure.

In this scenario, the project is projected to have a 26-year mine life, with Phase 1 having a milling rate of 1.5-million tonnes a year and Phase 2 three-million tonnes a year.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
At a base case of $12 000/t lithium carbonate, the project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $2.71-billion and an internal rate of return of 24.2%, with a payback of 4.3 years (undiscounted).

Capital Expenditure
American Lithium reported in June 2023 that the costs of the first phase of construction are likely to increase by about 20%, from $587-million to $700-million.

Planned Start/End Date
The construction period has been scoped for 24 months.

Latest Developments
American Lithium has reported that, if all goes according to plan, construction could begin at Falchani by late 2024 or late 2025, with production expected to start in late 2026 or early 2027.

Before that, an environmental-impact assessment, which could take another three to six months, and an updated economic assessment, need to be completed.

A new economic assessment will also be undertaken to include the by-products potassium, cesium and rubidium, which were not analysed in the original study.

American Lithium is in talks with regard to investment. It is also doing drilling tests in a new area near Falchani after receiving approvals in May.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
DRA, working with ANSTO Minerals, with input from M.Plan International (process flowsheet).

Contact Details for Project Information
American Lithium, tel +1 604 428 6128 or email Info@americanlithiumcorp.com.