European Metals Managing Director, Keith Coughlan said: “We continue to work on optimising all aspects of the Cinovec Project and are pleased to be able to report significantly increased lithium recoveries from our roast / leach process together with potentially lower operating costs in that section of the process. The Preliminary Feasibility Study we concluded last year indicates that Cinovec will be a bottom half cost curve producer. Higher recoveries and lower costs will only enhance the economics of the Project.”
European Metals Holdings Limited LON:EMH has reported on preliminary results recently received from its ongoing metallurgical optimisation and ore variability testwork program.
This testwork program is being conducted in support of the development of the Cinovec Lithium-Tin Project.
· Lithium leach recoveries of 94 – 95% achieved from recent laboratory scale roasting and water leaching tests.
· Confirmation that a modest increase in roasting temperature significantly increases lithium recovery.
· Confirmation that the substitution of the more cost effective reagent, limestone in place of lime did not reduce lithium recovery.
Recent metallurgical testwork has seen further roast recovery improvements on ore sourced from core taken from the area that is intended to be mined and processed in the first years of the project.
Subsequently testwork was completed whereby the more cost effective reagent limestone was substituted for lime into the roasting feed mix. A lithium recovery rate of 94.8% was achieved from this test. This finding will support the achievement of significant cost savings in this part of the flowsheet.
The results achieved thus far from the small-scale roast / leach testwork conducted to date supports the view that EMH will soon be able to bring this work to an end and will be able to move confidently into the next phases of locked cycle, pilot scale and equipment selection testing in support of the Definitive Feasibility Study.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON CINOVEC
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Cinovec Lithium/Tin Project
European Metals, through its wholly owned Subsidiary, Geomet s.r.o., controls the mineral exploration licenses awarded by the Czech State over the Cinovec Lithium/Tin Project. Cinovec hosts a globally significant hard rock lithium deposit with a total Indicated Mineral Resource of 348Mt @ 0.45% Li2O and 0.04% Sn and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 309Mt @ 0.39% Li2O and 0.04% Sn containing a combined 7.0 million tonnes Lithium Carbonate Equivalent and 263kt of tin. An initial Probable Ore Reserve of 34.5Mt @ 0.65% Li2O and 0.09% Sn has been declared to cover the first 20 years mining at an output of 20,800tpa of lithium carbonate.
This makes Cinovec the largest lithium deposit in Europe, the fourth largest non-brine deposit in the world and a globally significant tin resource.
The deposit has previously had over 400,000 tonnes of ore mined as a trial sub-level open stope underground mining operation.
EMH has completed a Preliminary Feasibility Study, conducted by specialist independent consultants, which indicated a return post tax NPV of USD540m and an IRR of 21%. It confirmed the deposit is be amenable to bulk underground mining. Metallurgical test work has produced both battery grade lithium carbonate and high-grade tin concentrate at excellent recoveries. Cinovec is centrally located for European end-users and is well serviced by infrastructure, with a sealed road adjacent to the deposit, rail lines located 5 km north and 8 km south of the deposit and an active 22 kV transmission line running to the historic mine. As the deposit lies in an active mining region, it has strong community support.
The economic viability of Cinovec has been enhanced by the recent strong increase in demand for lithium globally, and within Europe specifically.
