JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Plymouth Minerals and its Spanish partner Sacyr subsidiary Valoriza Mineria have secured an expansion tenure surrounding the San Jose project, in Spain, which they plan to develop as an openpit operation with an on-site treatment plant to produce lithium carbonate.
The expansion tenure contains lithium/tin mineralisation extensions from the original tenements, which were secured through a government tender process.
The joint venture last month announced a maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant indicated and inferred resource for the original tenement of 92.3-million tonnes at 0.6% lithium oxide and 0.02% tin at a 0.10% cutoff and a 16.5-million-tonne resource at 0.9% lithium oxide and 0.04% tin at a 0.35% cutoff.
Plymouth said on Monday that the expansion tenement extended coverage along strike for San Jose and that it provided space for the required infrastructure, including the proposed processing facility.
The processing facility is expected to use conventional, acid leach and carbonate precipitation to produce lithium carbonate suitable for the battery industry.
Plymouth and Valoriza intend to submit a mining licence application for San Jose in the third quarter of this year.
Plymouth can earn up to 75% in San Jose by completing a feasibility study. The company also owns an 80% interest in a tungsten project in Spain and potash projects in Gabon.
The tenement extends coverage along strike for San Jose and provides space for the required infrastructure to build the processing facility.