JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Australian lithium developer Pilbara Minerals has been granted the main mining lease for the Pilgangoora lithium/tantalum project by the Western Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum.
This follows the successful completion of several prerequisite steps, including the signing of a native title agreement with the Njamal people, the traditional owners of the land and the signing of an access and compensation deed with the pastoral lease holders within the project area.
Meanwhile, the company has appointed lithium flotation specialist and long-serving Greenbushes lithium mine employee Dr Wenbo Wang, who will from mid-January provide key expertise in the optimisation and performance of the Pilgangoora plant testwork, design, commissioning and plant ramp-up.
“Securing someone of Wenbo’s experience and stature in Australia’s lithium industry is a fantastic win for Pilbara, and places our already outstanding project front and centre for the next generation of large-scale and high quality spodumene production assets. His skills combined with the existing team at Pilbara, make for a formidable process plant operating team," said Pilbara CEO and MD Ken Brinsden.
Pilbara Minerals expects its next resource update will be available on or before mid-January. Additional drilling success at the Pilgangoora Far East prospect has meant further modelling requirements than originally planned, delaying the new resource calculation by about two weeks.