PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Lithium developer Piedmont Lithium has been granted a key permit for chemical operations at its planned 22 700 t/y lithium hydroxide chemical plant, in King Mountain, North Carolina.
The company on Thursday told shareholders that the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality had granted the company an air permit, defining the allowable limits for the construction and operations of emission sources, as well as the construction and operation of air cleaning equipment to be used in the planned facilities.
The permit was issued following a detailed review of Piedmont’s permit application, which was submitted in October this year.
“Securing our Title V Air Permit represents a major milestone for our integrated lithium hydroxide business, and we are very pleased to have received this authorisation,” said Piedmont CEO and president Keith Phillips.
“Our project is unique in being the only spodumene-to-hydroxide project in the US, and together with our previously received federal permit for our concentrate operations, now also stands out as the most advanced American lithium project. We are very excited about the important milestone ahead of us as we look to deliver a definitive feasibility study for a fully permitted integrated project next year.”
A previously completed prefeasibility study into the lithium hydroxide plant estimated that some 22 720 t/y of lithium hydroxide could be produced over a project life of 25 years, at an average cost of production of $6 689/t.
The merchant project is expected to require a capital investment of $377-million for the chemicals plant, and will generate annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $149-million a year, and have an after-tax net present value of $714-million and an internal rate of return of 26%.