Name of the Project
Authier lithium project.

Location
The Authier project is located 45 km north-west of Val d’Or, in Quebec, Canada.

Client
Sayona Mining.

Project Description
The project has a maiden ore reserve of 10.2-million tonnes grading 1.02% lithium oxide (Li₂O), comprising proven reserves of 4.9-million tonnes grading 0.97% lithium oxide and probable reserves of 5.3-million tonnes grading 1.06% Li₂O, delivering a mine life of 13 years.

A prefeasibility study (PFS) completed on the Authier project has confirmed the technical and financial viability of building a simple, low-strip, opencut mining operation and processing facility producing spodumene concentrate.

The Authier deposit will be mined by opencut methods enhanced by the shallow and thick nature of the mineralisation, allowing spodumene ore to be processed from the start of mining. The PFS has demonstrated a life-of-mine strip ratio of 6:1 (waste to ore), providing a low mining cost.

Mining will be undertaken using drill-and-blast and conventional bulk mining methods employing hydraulic excavators and dump trucks that will deliver ore to a run-of-mine (RoM) stockpile. Ore will be trucked directly from the blasted faces to the RoM stockpile and fed to a primary jaw crusher using a front-end loader.

The scale of the project indicates that the operation is best suited to a fleet comprising 46 t rigid body dump trucks being loaded by a 125 excavator.

A mixed ancillary fleet will be used to support load and haul operations.

Jobs to be Created
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of C$140-million and an internal rate of return of 39%, with a payback of 2.2 years.

Value
The project is expected to cost C$66-million to develop.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Sayona Mining believes that, with further drilling, it can expand the size of the resource, provide better definition of the orebody and lower the overall waste to ore ratio.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Sayona Mining, tel +61 7 3369 7058 or email info@sayonamining.com.au.