JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Calgary-headquartered Bacanora Minerals has secured the final key requirement for its flagship lithium project, announcing on Friday that Mexico’s Environmental Ministry had approved a 35 000 t/y lithium carbonate operation at Sonora.
The approval is a major milestone for Bacanora, which is aiming to build an openpit mine and a large scale beneficiation processing facility at Sonora.
“One-by-one we are ticking off our checklist ahead of our goal of developing Sonora into a world-class lithium operation. Our work to date has already established Sonora as a large and scalable project; while our pilot plant at Sonora has been producing battery grade lithium carbonate on a continuous basis for the past 18 months. This has served to prove the detailed flow sheet and metallurgical process that will be deployed at the project, and has also helped to secure Hanwa as both a strategic and offtake partner for up to 100% of production,” commented CEO Peter Secker.
Bacanora, which is listed on the Aim and TSX-V markets, is in the process of completing a feasibility study for its Sonora project, which will be published before year-end.
An April 2016 prefeasibility study established a probable mineral reserve of 2.1-million tonnes lithium carbonate and demonstrated the economics associated with becoming a 35 000 t/y lithium carbonate and 50 000 t/y potassium sulphate producer.
The company also holds a 50% interest in the Zinnwald lithium project, in Germany.