Name of the Project
Ewoyaa lithium project.

Location
Ghana.

Project Owner/s
Aim-listed lithium explorer and developer Atlantic Minerals. Piedmont has an earn-in right of 50% of Atlantic’s Ghanaian projects, including Ewoyaa, and the company holds a 10% equity interest in Atlantic Lithium.

Project Description
A prefeasibility study (PFS) has delivered robust project economics. The project includes the Ewoyaa, Abonko and Kaampakrom deposits.

The project has probable ore reserves of 18.9-million tonnes grading 1.24% lithium oxide.

A contract mining operation is proposed, owing to an abundance of experienced, well-established local contractors in Ghana.

The PFS envisages an openpit mining operation with a 12.5-year mine life, which includes a two-million-tonne-a-year conventional dense-media separation processing facility producing about 255 000 t/y of 6% lithium spodumene concentrate (SC6).

Life-of-mine production is estimated at 3.18-million tonnes.

In addition to SC6 production, the PFS incorporates two additional revenue streams from by-products – a saleable direct shipping ore (DSO) fines product and a saleable feldspar by-product.

DSO is estimated at 3.74-million tonnes and feldspar at 4.12-million tonnes.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $1.33-million and an internal rate of return of 224%, with a payback of less than five months.

Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditure has increased from $70-million in the scoping study to $125-million in the PFS, as a result of the crushing being done in-house as opposed to outsourcing it.

Planned Start/End Date
The proposed project development programme targets first production of SC6 in the third quarter of 2024, based on receiving a mining licence in the third quarter of 2023, which, in turn, is subject to meeting all statutory requirements.

Latest Developments
Atlantic Lithium has announced that an infill drilling programme, which forms part of a planned 3 000 m infill reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling programme, has started at the Ewoyaa South 2 deposit.

The drilling is aimed at converting inferred resources to the higher confidence indicated category for future mine sequencing optionality.

"This programme aims to further derisk the project's current resources and provide optionality with regard to the mine plan. On completion of the infill programme, the drill rig will commence the planned 7 000 m resource extension drilling programme at the Ewoyaa Main, Ewoyaa North-East and Kaampakrom targets for potential further resource growth,” Atlantic interim CEO Lennard Kolff has said.

Additionally, the company is conducting a passive seismic geophysical survey using Fleet Space Technologies' ExoSphere ambient noise tomography geodes within the Ewoyaa mineral resource estimate (MRE) footprint. The survey will test the potential for concealed pegmatite targets.

“[This] technology has proven to generate impressive results, including at Core Lithium's Finniss project, in Australia, which bears many similarities to Ewoyaa. If successful, the survey could significantly improve our understanding of the current Ewoyaa MRE and unearth further areas to target with follow-up drilling,” Kolff said on April 19.

He added that 6 500 m of exploration RC drilling had been planned for follow-up drilling of targets defined by the passive seismic survey and auger drilling.

The company has also reported that the soil geochemistry survey over the Cape Coast licence is ongoing and nearing completion.

Soil samples will be analysed at Atlantic’s in-house laboratory for multi-element geochemistry using portable X-ray fluorescence, and for lithium using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy analysers.

Coincident soils and geophysical anomalies will be followed up with field mapping and auger drilling, if warranted, ahead of potential RC drill testing at depth. The auger drilling to test and define pegmatite footprints within the project area and broader portfolio was progressing well, Kolff has said, with 7 900 m of the planned 20 000 m programme drilled to date.

"The 2023 exploration and resource drilling programmes are expected to add significant value to the project and will not impact on the delivery of the definitive feasibility study, which remains on track for delivery in the second quarter,” Kolff has noted. 

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Ashmore Advisory (resource modelling); Mining Focus Consultants (pit optimisation and mine scheduling); NAGROM (beneficiation testwork); ANSTO (conversion testwork); Trinol (process interpretation and design); Zivvo and Trinol (operating and capital costs, and cash flow modelling); Primero (site layouts); and First Test Minerals (industrial mineral marketing).

Contact Details for Project Information
Atlantic Minerals, tel +61 2 8072 0640 or email info@atlanticlithium.com.au.