Kodal Minerals Regulatory News (KOD)

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR") 

Kodal Minerals Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: KOD / Sector: Mining

9 October 2017

Kodal Minerals plc ('Kodal Minerals' or 'the Company')

Battery Grade Lithium Carbonate Produced from Metallurgical and Processing Testwork at Bougouni Lithium Project, Mali

Kodal Minerals plc, the AIM quoted mineral exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that Shandong Ruifu Lithium Co Ltd ('Shandong Ruifu'), one of the largest lithium carbonate producers in China, has produced a high quality, low impurity battery grade lithium carbonate using spodumene concentrate from the Company's Bougouni lithium project in Southern Mali ("Bougouni" or the "Bougouni Project").

Highlights

· Battery Grade Lithium Carbonate: Shandong Ruifu successfully processed Bougouni spodumene concentrate to produce high grade lithium carbonate suitable for use in lithium battery production;

· Low Impurities: Chemical analysis of the final lithium carbonate product reports low levels of impurities supporting its positioning as a premium product compared to many other products in the market;

· Full Processing Path: This processing testwork confirms the Bougouni spodumene concentrate's amenability for downstream processing into a final lithium carbonate product with excellent conversion and recovery of lithium mineralisation at all stages of processing;

· Bougouni Spodumene Concentrate: Earlier testwork had demonstrated the ability to produce spodumene concentrates ranging between 5.5% and 6.7% lithium oxide from Bougouni samples via flotation treatment of reverse circulation drill chips;

· Further Concentrate Testwork: Mineral processing testwork is continuing with a programme to optimise comminution and spodumene concentration using the Company's available diamond drill core; 

· Independent Verification: Additional testwork is to be completed at an independent metallurgical laboratory to provide further confidence in the process.

Bernard Aylward, CEO of Kodal Minerals, said: "The production of a high-purity, battery grade lithium carbonate from our spodumene concentrate is a further indication of the quality of the mineralisation at our Bougouni Lithium Project. The testwork completed previously had demonstrated good metallurgical recoveries producing a high grade spodumene concentrate, and these test results now confirm that this spodumene can be converted to a final lithium carbonate product that will be seen as a premium product compared to many others in the market.

"Kodal is maintaining a very busy exploration and definition programme at Bougouni and this ongoing programme of testing is a key criterion in our overall assessment of the project. Our programme includes the extraction of a 5,000 tonne bulk sample to be shipped to China for further testing and review of potential plant design parameters. The focus is on the production of spodumene concentrate on-site at Bougouni. The bulk sample will be treated through to a lithium carbonate product to provide a full process review.

"Our exploration drilling and definition work is scheduled to commence as soon as possible after the rainy season, with a drill rig contracted to undertake a large-scale programme testing our advanced prospects as well as several high-priority new prospects."

Further Information

Process Testwork

This testing was completed at the Shandong Ruifu Lithium Co Ltd ("Shandong Ruifu") plant in the Tai'An region of the Shandong province of China. Shandong Ruifu has a close relationship with Kodal's major shareholder Suay Chin International Pte Ltd and operates a lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide production plant in the Shandong province of China. Shandong Ruifu recently completed an upgrade to the processing plant and is looking to secure supply of quality lithium bearing mineralisation.

The objective of this testwork was to demonstrate the suitability of the Bougouni spodumene concentrate to fit into a downstream processing plant and demonstrate the production of high quality, battery grade lithium carbonate.

The lithium carbonate produced by the process is reported as a high quality, low impurity product suitable for battery production. The final analysis of the grade of the lithium carbonate is tabled below:

Table 1: Comparison of Lithium Carbonate analysis to Industry standard

Testwork Procedure:

The processing path for the production of lithium carbonate includes calcination, acidification, leaching/purification and finally a process of thickening and washing to produce the lithium carbonate. The results for each stage are summarised below, with recoveries and comments outlining the process:

Calcination

The calcination process converts the spodumene crystal from an "alpha" to "beta" form and allows the lithium present in the spodumene crystal to be displaced by sodium in the process. The calcination process heats the sample up to a temperature of 1,100 degrees in a furnace for two hours. The results of the calcination process indicate over 95% conversion with low viscosity and no sintering observed in the inner lining of the furnace.

Acidification

The acidification process involves the addition of sulphuric acid and mixing, followed by a further period of heating to 300 degrees centigrade. The lithium yield following the acidification process is reported as 97% following the reaction process.

Leaching/Purification

This process involves dissolving the acid clinker in a water based solution to remove impurities and create a sulphuric lithium liquid. The process achieved a sulphuric lithium liquid with Li2O reporting >20g/l and impurities (Ca, Mg etc) returning less than 0.01g/l

Thickening and Washing

The thickening and washing circuit separates waste from the concentrated lithium sulphuric solution, while precipitation removes magnesium and calcium from this solution. A Soda ash is then added to the solution and lithium carbonate precipitated.

The process of treatment of the Bougouni Spodumene concentrate has resulted in a high purity Lithium Carbonate product with low impurities as indicated in table 1.

Bougouni Lithium Mineralisation

The pegmatite veins intersected by drilling at Bougouni are spodumene rich (20-30% spodumene content) low mica pegmatite bodies with spodumene being the main lithium bearing mineral in most hard rock lithium deposits. The high-grade lithium mineralisation returned in the assays compares favourably with other hard rock spodumene mineralised pegmatite veins under development around the world where grades range from 1.1% Li2O through to 1.4% Li2O. The intersections reported in this announcement have been estimated using a 1.0% Li2O lower-cut, and have consistently high mineralisation throughout the pegmatite bodies.

An initial review of the development process for the Bougouni lithium pegmatite bodies was completed as part of the World Bank sponsored SYSMIN study completed by CSA Global in 2008. This report indicated that a process of mine site crushing, screening and dense media separation techniques was able to produce a good quality spodumene concentrate, with grade over 6% Li2O. Chemical grade spodumene concentrate (typically containing 6% Li2O) is sold for use in battery manufacturing and other industrial applications. Recent lithium concentrate (grade 6%) prices are approximately US$600/t.

The exploration results and activity reported in this announcement have been reviewed by Mr Bernard Aylward who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Aylward has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Qualified Person as defined in the AIM Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies dated June 2009. Mr Aylward consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.kodalminerals.com or contact the following: