Name of the Project
Goulamina lithium project.

Location
The project is located in southern Mali.

Project Owner/s
Mali Lithium, formerly Birimian.

Project Description
An updated prefeasibility study (PFS) on the Goulamina project has confirmed that the project can be profitably developed as a large-scale, low-cost, hard-rock lithium mine.

The project has a maiden ore reserve of 31.2-million tonnes at 1.56% lithium oxide. The PFS envisages a conventional opencut mining operation, with abstraction through conventional load-and-haul using standard mining equipment.

The mine will supply a two-million-tonne-a-year mineral concentrating plant. Processing will be through a conventional spodumene beneficiation plant that incorporates crushing, reflux classification, dense-media separation, milling, flotation, concentrate handling and tailings disposal producing an average of 362 000 t of 6% lithium oxide spodumene concentrate, or 53 704 t of lithium carbonate equivalent, a year, for the initial mine life of 16 years. The operation will deliver ore to a run-of-mine pad and waste to a large dump from the openpits.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of A$920-million and an internal rate of return of 49.5%, with a payback of 2.6 years, including production ramp-up.

Capital Expenditure
The project will cost about A$196-million to implement.

Planned Start /End Date
A final investment decision on the project is expected at the end of 2020, with project construction expected to take between 18 and 24 months.

Latest Developments
Mali Lithium has started the search for a strategic partner to help develop its Goulamina lithium project.

MD Chris Evans has said that in addition to advancing its relationship with China Minmentals, Mali Lithium is also targeting lithium carbonate producers as possible strategic partners.

“We are also looking further upstream to auto manufacturers and battery makers that need to secure lithium supply.”

Evans has noted that Mali Lithium will consider company or project-level investments, with the size of the project stake up for offer depending on the size of the investment.

An updated prefeasibility study into the Goulamina project estimates that it could produce an average of 362 000 t/y of spodumene concentrate or a total of 5.7-million tonnes of concentrate over an initial mine life of 16 years, based on a two-million-tonne-a-year mineral concentrating plant.

Mali Lithium is also investigating the development of downstream processing capacity for the Goulamina project. These studies will not form part of a definitive feasibility study for the project, which is due for completion early next year.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Ausenco Services (lead contractor for the completion of the PFS and final report generation. Process plant and infrastructure designs, and the development of associated capital and operating cost estimates); AQ2 (hydrogeological studies); Cube Consulting (mineral resource and ore reserve estimates); Majesso Consulting (capital and operational expenditure estimates for mining); Land & Marine Geological Services (tailings storage facility engineering and design); ALS Metallurgy and Valdrew Nominees (metallurgical testwork); Digby Wells Associates Mali (environmental- and social-impact studies); Roskill Consulting UK (lithium supply demand and cost forecast); Siggiconnect (independent concentrate price forecast); and Northshore Capital Advisors (financial modelling).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
Mali Lithium, tel +61 8 6149 6100 or email info@malilithium.com.