Photo by: Atlantic Minerals
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 is hoping that its Ewoyaa lithium project will be in production in the next two years.
The company hopes to complete front-end engineering design and a definitive feasibility study on Ewoyaa by the second quarter of this year.
Atlantic COO Keith Muller has said that Atlantic’s highest priority in 2023 is to complete the permitting process, namely the mining lease approval that the company submitted in October 2022. The approval will start the environmental protection approvals process after verification of the mining lease by parliament.
The final step in the process is the mine operating permit that will enable Atlantic to be in production within the next two years.
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.