Name of the Project
Lithium hydroxide chemicals plant.

Location
Kings Mountain, North Carolina, in the US.

Project Owner/s
Piedmont Lithium.

Project Description
A prefeasibility study (PFS) and a scoping study completed on the project have delivered excellent economics and robust internal rates of return over the project’s 25-year life.

Piedmont’s chemicals plant, or merchant project, will create an alternative to the numerous merchant spodumene converters currently operating in China, thus providing US and European automotive companies with a secure and independent US source of the lithium hydroxide required for their supply chains. The PFS completed on the merchant project envisages a standalone merchant chemicals plant, which will convert spodumene concentrate acquired on the global market to battery-grade lithium hydroxide, rather than from Piedmont’s own mine/concentrator.

The scoping study covers the integrated project, which comprises a mine/concentrator and chemicals plant. The integrated project will produce spodumene concentrate that will be transported to a chemicals plant and converted into battery-grade lithium hydroxide. Both projects yield average lithium hydroxide production of 22 720 t/y at steady state. In addition, the integrated project will deliver spodu­mene concentrate production of 160 000 t/y at steady state.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The merchant project delivers an after-tax net present value (NPV), at an 8% discount rate, of $714-million and a payback of 3.34 years from the start of operations. The integrated project has an estimated NPV, at an 8% discount rate, of $1.07-billion and a payback of 3.23 years. Both projects yield an internal rate of return of 26%.

Capital Expenditure
The initial capital cost for the merchant project, including contingency, is estimated at $377-million, while that of the mine/concentrator project, including contingency, is estimated at $168-million.

Planned Start/End Date
First lithium production is forecast in 2023.

The ramp-up period for chemicals plant operations is forecast to achieve nameplate capacity, including overall production and battery quality production, after a 24-month ramp-up period.

Latest Developments
Piedmont plans to partner with Ontario-based SGS Canada to complete a pilot-scale spodumene concentrator test work programme using bulk samples collected from its Piedmont lithium project, in North Carolina.

The pilot test work will be completed on a 50 t sample collected from the lithium project in February 2020, with SGS Canada expected to complete dense-medium and flotation pilot work over the coming weeks.

The concentrate produced will be used for in-house and third-party lithium hydroxide pilot programmes, with the results to be used to support a definitive feasibility study and detailed design engineering.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Primero Group (preferred engineering, procurement and construction, as well as operations contractor for the spodumene concentrator).

PFS consultants: Hatch (chemicals plant engi­neering, initial capital cost and operating cost estimates); SGS Lakefield (metallurgical testwork); HDR Engineering (permitting, environmental and social studies); Benchmark Mineral Intelligence; and Roskill (lithium market research).

Contact Details for Project Information
Piedmont Lithium investor and government relations, Tim McKenna, tel +1732331 6457 or email tmckenna@piedmontlithium.com.