Name of the Project
Carolina lithium project.

Location
Gaston County, North Carolina, US.

Project Owner/s
Piedmont Lithium.

Project Description
An updated scoping study has confirmed that Carolina will be one of the world’s biggest and lowest-cost producers of lithium hydroxide.

The project has mineral resources of 39.2-million tonnes grading 1.09% lithium oxide.

The project is expected to produce about 4.96-million tonnes of 6% lithium oxide spodumene concentrate (SC6), averaging about 248  000 t/y of SC6 over the 20-year mine life. The project envisages production targets of 4.83-million tonnes of quartz concentrate, 7.51-million tonnes of feldspar concentrate, and 1.34-million tonnes of mica concentrate over the life of operations.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $1.92-billion and an internal rate of return 31%, with a payback of 2.9 years from the start of operations.

Capital Expenditure
$838.6-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Construction is expected to start in April 2022, with commissioning expected in December 2023.

Latest Developments
Piedmont Lithium has increased the mineral resource estimate for its Carolina project to 44.2-million tonnes, grading 1.08% lithium oxide for about 1.1-million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.

About 774 000 t of this lithium carbonate equivalent resource has been estimated within the indicated category.

“We are very pleased to have concluded our Phase 5 drill campaign and to further expand our world-class resource base,” said Piedmont president and CEO Keith Phillips.

“The increase in indicated resource of over 100% relative to resources previously reported under the Australian standards, will underpin the definitive feasibility study for Carolina lithium that we plan to publish later in 2021. The study will be another important step along the path to building America’s leading lithium business to support and enable the rapidly growing electric vehicle supply chain in the US.”

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Primero Group (concentrate operations and overall study integration); Metso Outotec (lithium hydroxide manufacturing technology package); SGS Lakefield (metallurgical testwork); Marshall Miller and Associates (mine design and scheduling); McGarry Geoconsulting Corp (mineral resource estimation); Minviro (life cycle analysis); HDR Engineering (permitting, environment, and social studies); Johnston, Allison, and Hord (land title and legal); Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (lithium products marketability) and John Walker (by-products marketability).

Contact Details for Project Information
Piedmont Lithium, tel +61 8 9322 6322 or email info@piedmontlithium.com.