PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Lithium developer Piedmont Lithium on Tuesday said that it would accelerate development of its namesake project, in the US, after securing a federal permit to develop the mine.
The company has received a Clean Water Act Section 404 Standard Individual Permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers, marking the only federal permit required for the proposed mine and concentrator.
The company has also received a Clean Water Act Section 401 Individual Water Quality Certification from the North Carolina Division of Water Resources.
The two permit approvals were achieved within Piedmont’s planned timeline, and represented a major milestone in the development of the Piedmont project.
The ASX-listed company on Tuesday said that a preliminary feasibility study for the lithium hydroxide plant would now likely be completed by the second quarter of next year, with a definitive feasibility study for the integrated project slated for the end of 2020.
An initial scoping study into the mine and concentrator project estimated that it would require a capital investment of $168-million to sustain an yearly production rate of 22 700 t/y of lithium hydroxide over a mine life of 25 years.