PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Lithium developer Lake Resources has appointed project finance institutions Citi and JP Morgan as joint coordinators for its Kachi lithium project, in Argentina.
The coordinators will work together on a debt financing package to fund the development of the 50 000 t/y Kachi project.
Lake Resources said on Friday that the contemplated debt financing will be based on the indicative support by UK Export Finance (UKEF) to cover 70% of the total Kachi project funding requirement, subject to UKEF approval and to standard project finance conditions.
It is also planned to have Export Development of Canada participate alongside UKEF.
A previously completed updated prefeasibility study estimated that the Kachi project could produce 25 500 t/y of lithium carbonate over a mine life of 25 years, with capital costs estimated at $540-million.
The company said earlier this year that the definitive feasibility study (DFS) would consider a production case of 50 000 t/y, given the increased demand from potential offtakers. The DFS is due for completion in mid-2022.
The amount of the proposed debt financing will be governed, among other things, by the outcomes of the DFS currently underway and the export credit agencies' assessments of all studies.