Last checked at 10 Apr 2024 12:00
Premier African Minerals Limited / Ticker: PREM / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining
For immediate release
10 April 2024
Premier African Minerals Limited
Zulu Lithium Plant Update
Premier African Minerals Limited ("Premier" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on progress at operations at Zulu Lithium and Tantalum ("Zulu") since the Zulu engineering team took responsibility over the operation and management of the plant in March.
Highlights:
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Ø | Ore grade and contained spodumene in the ore fed to the plant is at grades consistently ranging from 1.1% Li20 to 1.7% Li2O.
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Ø | Stability in the comminution circuit has now been attained and the new mill and jet sizers are now consistently able to provide the required tonnage of correctly sized material to the thickener.
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Ø | The OEM for the float plant and thickener is now finally able to properly optimise and fully commission the floatation plant.
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The Zulu Plant
Preliminary finding from the independent EPCM contractor (as announced on 13 March 2024) has confirmed a number of design issues related to the flow of material between various components of the plant.
This affected the comminution and material sizing plant components. Material flows from mill discharge to thickener feed are now stable.
All efforts are now focussed on the floatation plant. The key issues fall into two categories as set out below together with current remedial actions and anticipated timelines.
Throughput
In original test work, mica content was estimated at 17%. In early processing actual mica content is closer to 27%. This is currently restricting throughput to approximately 26 tons per hour of dry solids and the theoretical SC6 output is 4.5 ton per hour until certain pumps and valves in the mica section are upgraded. The OEM expects these components to be at site over the course of April to enable an increase in throughput to the target rate of approximately 37 tons per hour.
Grade and Recovery
Whilst the plant has demonstrated its capability to produce SC6 to grade, it is not able to do so consistently and achieve the desired and required recoveries at present. The reasons include circulation between float cells, resident time in float cells, and "in cell" slurry density. Our Zulu engineering team in conjunction with the OEM team has identified both the cause and the remedy and is in the process of attending to flow changes between the various floatation cells. This problem is expected to be rectified in the coming weeks.
George Roach, CEO commented, "Premier believes we are now in the home stretch with commissioning the Zulu plant operation.
Our team at Zulu and our OEMs should be commended for what has been achieved in the past 5 weeks and Premier looks forward to finally getting this plant over the line. We have greater than 1,000 tons of mixed mica rich and spodumene concentrate (not to grade) and with recent price improvements we are exploring ways to commercially release some value for the product available. SC6 will be held back until we have sufficient at grade material to ship to our prepayment and off-take partner.
Premier need to express its deep appreciation to all who have stuck with us through this tortuous journey and to our prepayment and off-take partner for their understanding and support."
Market Abuse Regulations
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 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR").
The person who arranged the release of this announcement on behalf of the Company was George Roach.
A copy of this announcement is available at the Company's website, www.premierafricanminerals.com
Enquiries:
George Roach | Premier African Minerals Limited | Tel: +27 (0) 100 201 281 |
Michael Cornish / Roland Cornish | Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nominated Adviser) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396 |
Douglas Crippen | CMC Markets UK Plc | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3003 8632 |
Toby Gibbs/Rachel Goldstein | Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7408 4090 |
Nominated Adviser Statement Beaumont Cornish Limited ("Beaumont Cornish"), which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority, is acting as nominated adviser to the Company in connection with this announcement and will not regard any other person as its client and will not be responsible to anyone else for providing the protections afforded to the clients of Beaumont Cornish or for providing advice in relation to such proposals. Beaumont Cornish has not authorised the contents of, or any part of, this document and no liability whatsoever is accepted by Beaumont Cornish for the accuracy of any information, or opinions contained in this document or for the omission of any information. Beaumont Cornish as nominated adviser to the Company owes certain responsibilities to the London Stock Exchange which are not owed to the Company, the Directors, Shareholders, or any other person.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this announcement are or may be deemed to be forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'' ''could'' "should" ''envisage'' ''estimate'' ''intend'' ''may'' ''plan'' ''will'' or the negative of those variations or comparable expressions including references to assumptions. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth results of operations performance future capital and other expenditures (including the amount. Nature and sources of funding thereof) competitive advantages business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements including risks associated with vulnerability to general economic and business conditions competition environmental and other regulatory changes actions by governmental authorities the availability of capital markets reliance on key personnel uninsured and underinsured losses and other factors many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Although any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are based upon what the Directors believe to be reasonable assumptions. The Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with such forward looking statements.
Glossary | |
"EPCM" | Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management. |
"Li2O"
| Lithium Oxide (Lithia) - an inorganic lithium compound used to assess lithium minerals. |
"OEM" | Original Equipment Suppliers. |
"SC6" | spodumene concentrate. |
Notes to Editors:
Premier African Minerals Limited (AIM: PREM) is a multi-commodity mining and natural resource development company focused on Southern Africa with its RHA Tungsten and Zulu Lithium projects in Zimbabwe.
The Company has a diverse portfolio of projects, which include tungsten, rare earth elements, lithium and tantalum in Zimbabwe and lithium and gold in Mozambique, encompassing brownfield projects with near-term production potential to grass-roots exploration. The Company has accepted a share offer by Vortex Limited ("Vortex") for the exchange of Premier's entire 4.8% interest in Circum Minerals Limited ("Circum"), the owners of the Danakil Potash Project in Ethiopia, for a 13.1% interest in the enlarged share capital of Vortex. Vortex has an interest of 36.7% in Circum.
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