Name of the Project
Clayton lithium project.

Location
Nevada, US.

Client
Cypress Development.

Project Description
The Clayton project has an indicated resource of 831-million tonnes at 867 parts per million (ppm) of lithium, or 3.8-billion tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). Inferred resources are estimated at 1.12-billion tonnes at 860 ppm, or 5.13-billion tonnes LCE.

In the preliminary economic assessment (PEA), a 15 000 t/d nominal production rate has been selected based on the projected output for the operation to produce 20 000 t/y of lithium carbonate. The nominal production rate equates to 5.48-billion tonnes a year of mill feed at an average grade of 1 012 ppm lithium. Further improvement in the production schedule is possible, owing to the resources in the initial pit far exceeding the 219-million tonnes of production needed to support a 40-year mine life.

Four options for mine equipment and mill feed transportation have been evaluated. An in-pit feeder-breaker with slurry pumping for the base case has been selected. No drilling or blasting is required, and the only major piece of mobile equipment is a front-end loader to feed the in-pit feeder-breaker. Waste mining is minimal, amounting to six-million tonnes over the 40-year mine life. The processing plant design includes agitated tank leaching and a multistage thermal-mechanical evaporation system for concentrating leach solution. Slurried feed will be transported to the mill where lithium extraction will be undertaken through leaching at elevated temperatures with diluted sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid concentration is targeted at 5%, with the addition of concentrated acid delivered from the on-site acid plant.

The estimated acid plant capacity is 2 000 t/d of sulphuric acid, generated from the combustion of elemental sulphur trucked to the site in the molten state. The acid plant has the potential to produce up to 25 MW of electricity, but at additional capital expense.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $1.45-billion and internal rate of return of 32.7%, with a payback of 2.7 years.

Value
The capital cost of the project has been estimated at $482-million.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Global Resource Engineering (GRE), which conducted the PEA, has recommended further work, including bench-scale testing, to demonstrate the recovery of lithium product. Cypress intends to proceed with this recommendation shortly, beginning with the collection of representative sample material with respect to the production schedule. The company will continue to work on permitting and other areas to advance the project.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Global Resource Engineering (PEA).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Cypress Development Corp, corporate communications director Don Myers, tel +1604639 3851, fax +1604687 3119 or email info@cypressdevelopmentcorp.com.