PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Neometals has signed a two-year option to sub-lease a site for its proposed lithium hydroxide refinery.
The company on Wednesday told shareholders that it had signed an option agreement with the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder over a 40 ha site in a new industrial estate.
During the two-year option period, Neometals will undertake due diligence and front-end engineering design studies as part of broader project feasibility studies for the refinery.
The proposed refinery will have an initial 10 000 t/y lithium hydroxide production capacity, with lithium feed concentrate coming from Neometal’s offtake option right from the Mt Marion lithium project, in which it has a 13.8% stake.
“Neometals has been investigating sites for some time and this Kalgoorlie location makes a lot of sense. The strategy to move Neometals downstream towards lithium chemical production is part of a broader evolution of our lithium business arm,” said Neometals CEO Chris Reed.
“The aim is to develop a closed loop lithium ecosystem with access to the lithium raw material source, value adding for use in the battery supply chain and ultimately, recycling for spent batteries.”
Reed said that Neometals was already a part of the global lithium supply chain which gave the company clear industry insights and confidence in the future demand outlook for lithium hydroxide from hard rock.
In addition to the feasibility studies, Neometals will also advance offtake negotiations and a formal selection of partners, and will work with the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder to progress fundamental service agreement terms and finalise a funding strategy for the proposed plant.
A final investment decision on the plant is expected in the June quarter of 2019.