PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted lithium developer Atlantic Lithium authorisation to divert two transmission lines that run across the planned mining areas that hold the company’s Ewoyaa lithium project.

The company told shareholders on Tuesday that the planned diversion of the transmission lines, which currently traverse the proposed project site, forms part of the project’s mine plan and represents an important step as the company advances Ewoyaa towards shovel readiness.

The EPA approval has been granted until March 2025, enabling the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) to carry out the diversion of the lines on behalf of Atlantic.

“The diversion of the transmission lines that traverse the proposed project site forms an important part of the mine plan and the company’s preparations towards shovel readiness at Ewoyaa,” said Atlantic CEO Keith  Muller.

“I would like to take the opportunity to thank GRIDCo for undertaking this work on behalf of the company and the EPA for its timely approval, ensuring we maintain our strong momentum as we advance the project towards construction.

“At Ewoyaa, we consider ourselves exceptionally fortunate to be able to leverage Ghana’s impressive existing infrastructure and the considerable expertise from over a century of mining activity in the country. We believe these elements play a major role in positioning the project as one of the leading hard rock spodumene assets globally.”

The definitive feasibility study (DFS) into the Ewoyaa project estimated a capital cost of $185-million based on a 3.6-million-tonne spodumene concentrate production over a mine life of 12 years. The DFS estimated a post-tax net present value of $1.5-billion with a free cash flow of $2.4-billion and life-of-mine revenues of $6.6-billion.

The study also estimated C1 cash operating costs of $377/t of concentrate free-on-board, after by-product credits from conventional opencut mining, and an all-in sustaining cost of $610/t.

Atlantic is currently awaiting the grant of a mining licence required to advance the project towards construction.