Name of the Project
Keliber lithium hydroxide project.

Location
Central Ostrobothnia, Finland.

Project Owner/s
Sibanye-Stillwater owns about 79% of the Keliber project, while the Finnish State-owned Finnish Minerals Group owns 20%.

Project Description
The project will include the Kokkola refinery at the Kokkola Industrial Park (KIP).

The project comprises four initial opencast and three underground, highly mechanised mining operations – Syväjärvi and Rapasaari, with Emmes, Outovesi, and Länttä situated across the municipalities of Kaustinen, Kokkola and Kronoby respectively.

The mining operations will supply ore to the Päiväneva concentrator, which will be situated close to the Rapasaari mine. Concentrate produced at the Päiväneva concentrator is planned to be trucked about 66 km to the Kokkola refinery, which is forecast to produce about 15 000 t/y of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate.

Openpit and underground ore reserves of 12.7-million tonnes (0.92% lithium oxide) and mineral resources of 17-million tonnes (1.02% lithium oxide) support an estimated life-of-mine of 16 years at a forecast average milling rate of about 800 000 t/y.

Potential Job Creation
By the end of the fourth quarter of 2023 the employee headcount had reached 70 people.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The updated definitive feasibility study (DFS) has estimated a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of €510-million, compared with the €295-million estimated in the 2018 DFS.

The pretax internal rate of return has also increased from 24% in the 2018 DFS to 28% in the 2019 updated DFS.

The payback period for the project has decreased from 5.5 years to 3.7 years.

Capital Expenditure
The project is estimated at €656-million (2023 real terms), previously €588-million (2022 real terms), of which the refinery’s capital cost is €418-million, on the back of amended water treatment technology to ensure compliance with more stringent effluent water quality conditions, and to increase lithium refinery recovery.

Capital expenditure (capex) for 2023 was €124-million versus revised guidance of €130-million. Capex in the second half of 2023 was €59-million. Total expenditure to date is €144-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Construction of the Keliber project started in the first quarter of 2023 and concentrator earth works in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Latest Developments
Construction activities of the project have continued successfully after the start of construction in March 2023.

Similarly, the earthworks and selected infrastructure works started at the Päiväneva concentrator site in late 2023. The mining permit for the Rapasaari mine became legally valid in December 2023 as the Vaasa Administrative Court rejected the appeal lodged against the permit. On February 23, 2024, the Vaasa Administrative Court issued a ruling on three appeals, including Sibanye-Stillwater’s appeal of certain emission-related permit conditions in connection with the environmental permit for the Rapasaari mine and the Päiväneva concentrator issued in December 2022.

The court upheld and partially amended the environmental permit as requested by Sibanye-Stillwater, while referring certain permit conditions back to the Permitting Authority (Regional State Administrative Agency for Western and Inland Finland) for further review.

These conditions pertain to the placement of Rapasaari mine’s waste rock and certain waste fractions from the concentrator, the aftercare plan for the extractive waste areas and the associated financial guarantees. As the environmental permit was otherwise confirmed, the permit remains in effect despite the court’s ruling, allowing the construction work at the Päiväneva concentrator to continue in all material respects in accordance with existing plans.

Sibanye-Stillwater expects concentrator operations to start as planned, subject to Permitting Authority review and the issuance of enforceable permit decisions.

The full impact of the Court’s ruling on the Rapasaari mine-related permit conditions has not yet been determined. Based on preliminary analyses, Sibanye-Stillwater expects the process to obtain the required permit decision from the Permitting Authority will delay the start of the Rapasaari mine operations.

Sibanye-Stillwater is assessing the overall impact, if any, to timing of the Sibanye-Stillwater’s Keliber project. The refinery in Kokkola and the Syväjärvi mine are not affected by the ruling of the court.

A decision was made on October 6, 2023, to start Phase 2 of the Keliber.

Delivery of ore from the Syväjärvi openpit mine will be timed to coincide with the commissioning of the concentrator. Subsequently, the earthworks and selected infrastructure works started at the Päiväneva concentrator site in late 2023.

Construction activities of the Keliber lithium refinery have successfully continued after the start in March 2023. The main plant facility steel structure and cladding are ready, and equipment installations have started.

Exploration drilling progressed well over the six months to December 2023, with a total of 69 holes and 13 894 m drilled at the key exploration target areas, with continued promising results.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Metso Outotec (sustainable soda pressure leaching technology).

Contact Details for Project Information
Keliber Oy, tel +358 10 567 0600 or email info@keliber.fi.