Reuters | March 28, 2023 |
Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora lithium operation, Western Australia. Credit: Pilbara Minerals
Australia’s largest independent lithium miner Pilbara Minerals said on Wednesday it had approved a capital investment to increase production capacity at its flagship Pilgangoora lithium project in Western Australia.
The investment in the Pilgan plant will help increase spodumene concentrate production by 47% to 1 million dry metric tonnes per annum.
Pilbara expects full production and ramp-up at the project by the end of the September quarter of 2025 with an estimated capital expenditure of A$560 million ($375.59 million).
“This further increase in production capacity will cement Pilbara Minerals’ position as a globally significant supplier of lithium materials products delivering into this rapidly growing market,” said Dale Henderson, managing director and CEO at Pilbara.
Shares of the miner company 2% to A$3.93 in early trade.
The Western Australian miner had last year secured A$250 million long-term financing from Australia to support expansion at the Pilgangoora project, which sits on one of the world’s largest lithium ore deposits, according to the company’s website.
(USD$1 = 1.4910 Australian dollars)
(By Navya Mittal; Editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran)
Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora lithium operation, Western Australia. Credit: Pilbara Minerals
Australia’s largest independent lithium miner Pilbara Minerals said on Wednesday it had approved a capital investment to increase production capacity at its flagship Pilgangoora lithium project in Western Australia.
The investment in the Pilgan plant will help increase spodumene concentrate production by 47% to 1 million dry metric tonnes per annum.
Pilbara expects full production and ramp-up at the project by the end of the September quarter of 2025 with an estimated capital expenditure of A$560 million ($375.59 million).
“This further increase in production capacity will cement Pilbara Minerals’ position as a globally significant supplier of lithium materials products delivering into this rapidly growing market,” said Dale Henderson, managing director and CEO at Pilbara.
Shares of the miner company 2% to A$3.93 in early trade.
The Western Australian miner had last year secured A$250 million long-term financing from Australia to support expansion at the Pilgangoora project, which sits on one of the world’s largest lithium ore deposits, according to the company’s website.
(USD$1 = 1.4910 Australian dollars)
(By Navya Mittal; Editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran)
Pure Energy gets permits for DLE plant at Clayton Valley project in Nevada, stock soars
Staff Writer | March 28, 2023
Clayton Valley lithium project. (Image courtesy of Pure Energy Minerals).
Pure Energy Minerals’ (TSXV: PE) stock exploded Tuesday after it announced that all permits have been received from key governmental agencies for the construction and operation of the direct lithium extraction (DLE) pilot plant at its Clayton Valley lithium brine project in Esmeralda county, Nevada.
The final permit required to operate the DLE pilot plant at the CV project became effective on March 17, the company said, adding that this permit, together with previously approved permits, authorizes the pilot plant’s construction and operation at the Clayton Valley site.
The Vancouver-based miner is exploring and developing the 9,450-hectare Clayton Valley project, the largest mineral land holdings in the area, which adjoins and surrounds on three sides the Silver Peak lithium brine mine operated by Albemarle.
Pure Energy’s partner, SLB (formerly Schlumberger), through its New Energy business, is responsible for the design, construction and operation of the pilot plant to produce lithium compounds in a highly sustainable manner.
“The development of the pilot plant and application of SLB’s sustainable lithium production process at Pure Energy’s Clayton Valley project has important potential for lithium brine projects. Its state-of-the-art approach to lithium production conserves water, has a considerably smaller footprint, and reduces environmental impact compared to existing evaporation pond design,” Pure Energy director Mary Little said in a news release.
“As the first project of its kind in North America, we are very pleased with the progress made by our partner, SLB, in advancing the pilot plant through the permitting milestones,” Little said. “The CV project continues to develop, and we look forward to reporting advances as they occur.”
Pure Energy Minerals stock’s value nearly doubled in Toronto on the news, surging 89% by closing. Trading volume for the day reached 295,789 – the average daily volume is 14,067. The company has a C$22.8 million ($16.7m) market cap.
Staff Writer | March 28, 2023
Clayton Valley lithium project. (Image courtesy of Pure Energy Minerals).
Pure Energy Minerals’ (TSXV: PE) stock exploded Tuesday after it announced that all permits have been received from key governmental agencies for the construction and operation of the direct lithium extraction (DLE) pilot plant at its Clayton Valley lithium brine project in Esmeralda county, Nevada.
The final permit required to operate the DLE pilot plant at the CV project became effective on March 17, the company said, adding that this permit, together with previously approved permits, authorizes the pilot plant’s construction and operation at the Clayton Valley site.
The Vancouver-based miner is exploring and developing the 9,450-hectare Clayton Valley project, the largest mineral land holdings in the area, which adjoins and surrounds on three sides the Silver Peak lithium brine mine operated by Albemarle.
Pure Energy’s partner, SLB (formerly Schlumberger), through its New Energy business, is responsible for the design, construction and operation of the pilot plant to produce lithium compounds in a highly sustainable manner.
“The development of the pilot plant and application of SLB’s sustainable lithium production process at Pure Energy’s Clayton Valley project has important potential for lithium brine projects. Its state-of-the-art approach to lithium production conserves water, has a considerably smaller footprint, and reduces environmental impact compared to existing evaporation pond design,” Pure Energy director Mary Little said in a news release.
“As the first project of its kind in North America, we are very pleased with the progress made by our partner, SLB, in advancing the pilot plant through the permitting milestones,” Little said. “The CV project continues to develop, and we look forward to reporting advances as they occur.”
Pure Energy Minerals stock’s value nearly doubled in Toronto on the news, surging 89% by closing. Trading volume for the day reached 295,789 – the average daily volume is 14,067. The company has a C$22.8 million ($16.7m) market cap.
Standard Lithium claims North America’s ‘highest grade brine’ from sampling in East Texas
Staff Writer | March 28, 2023 |
Drill rig at the new borehole/well location in East Texas. Credit: Standard Lithium
Standard Lithium (TSXV: SLI) announced Tuesday the discovery of a significant lithium brine resource from the sampling of a newly drilled well during its resource expansion work in the East Texas Smackover region.
Over the past three years, the Standard Lithium team has been developing its understanding of the Smackover Formation via analysis of existing petro-physical logs, 2D seismic data and existing core sample analysis retained from previous drilling activity. This understanding has been supplemented by sampling and analytical testing of produced water from existing oil and gas production wells from the Smackover Formation in the East Texas area, Standard Lithium said.
The company identified a select number of highly prospective lithium brine project areas in the Formation and began a brine leasing program in the key project areas. The greatest level of effort to date, and the company’s principal brine leasing focus, has been in the region close to the Arkansas and Louisiana state lines.
The company has been securing brine rights in the key project areas over the last 18 months as well as access to a pre-existing oil and gas production well and drilled a new exploration borehole. The pre-existing well was re-entered using a workover rig and the existing production casing was perforated at various depth intervals to gather new brine samples from different levels in the Smackover Formation. The new exploration borehole was advanced and cased using a drill rig, and subsequently sampled using a workover rig.
Brine samples taken from these two wells, in addition to samples taken from other closely adjacent wells all returned grades exceeding the average reported lithium analyses from other North American brine projects, the company said, adding that the best result came from the new borehole well at a grade of 634 mg/L lithium, leading to what it believes is the discovery of the “highest confirmed lithium grade brine” on the continent.
“We’re excited to discover this outstanding resource and to add it to our expanding portfolio of select projects in the Smackover Formation. We have built a large and technically diverse team of Smackover specialists who have been working for almost three years to understand the most prospective areas to secure the highest-quality brine resources in East Texas,” Standard Lithium president Andy Robinson said in a news release.
Robinson added that “these very high-quality lithium brine resources, located in the heart of the Gulf Coast region, are close to, and highly complementary to, Standard Lithium’s existing lithium projects and have the potential to play a key role in future lithium production as part of the company’s development and commercialization program.”
Standard Lithium has developed a fully integrated, start-to-finish, direct lithium extraction (DLE) process to selectively extract lithium from Smackover brine and produce battery-quality lithium compounds.
The company said the grade of lithium in brine used for DLE has a meaningful impact on both capital expenditures and operating costs in connection with the extraction process, with a higher grade typically resulting in lower overall costs.
Meanwhile, Standard has started a drilling program at its South West Arkansas project to support the forthcoming preliminary feasibility study. This drill program is expected to inform the resource definition and de-risk the project’s resource estimate, provide additional porosity and permeability data through the entire thickness of the productive zones in the Smackover Formation, and optimize production-wellfield design.
Standard Lithium’s stock soared 14.5% as of 10:30 a.m. in Toronto. The company has a market capitalization of C$871 million ($639.8m).
Staff Writer | March 28, 2023 |
Drill rig at the new borehole/well location in East Texas. Credit: Standard Lithium
Standard Lithium (TSXV: SLI) announced Tuesday the discovery of a significant lithium brine resource from the sampling of a newly drilled well during its resource expansion work in the East Texas Smackover region.
Over the past three years, the Standard Lithium team has been developing its understanding of the Smackover Formation via analysis of existing petro-physical logs, 2D seismic data and existing core sample analysis retained from previous drilling activity. This understanding has been supplemented by sampling and analytical testing of produced water from existing oil and gas production wells from the Smackover Formation in the East Texas area, Standard Lithium said.
The company identified a select number of highly prospective lithium brine project areas in the Formation and began a brine leasing program in the key project areas. The greatest level of effort to date, and the company’s principal brine leasing focus, has been in the region close to the Arkansas and Louisiana state lines.
The company has been securing brine rights in the key project areas over the last 18 months as well as access to a pre-existing oil and gas production well and drilled a new exploration borehole. The pre-existing well was re-entered using a workover rig and the existing production casing was perforated at various depth intervals to gather new brine samples from different levels in the Smackover Formation. The new exploration borehole was advanced and cased using a drill rig, and subsequently sampled using a workover rig.
Brine samples taken from these two wells, in addition to samples taken from other closely adjacent wells all returned grades exceeding the average reported lithium analyses from other North American brine projects, the company said, adding that the best result came from the new borehole well at a grade of 634 mg/L lithium, leading to what it believes is the discovery of the “highest confirmed lithium grade brine” on the continent.
“We’re excited to discover this outstanding resource and to add it to our expanding portfolio of select projects in the Smackover Formation. We have built a large and technically diverse team of Smackover specialists who have been working for almost three years to understand the most prospective areas to secure the highest-quality brine resources in East Texas,” Standard Lithium president Andy Robinson said in a news release.
Robinson added that “these very high-quality lithium brine resources, located in the heart of the Gulf Coast region, are close to, and highly complementary to, Standard Lithium’s existing lithium projects and have the potential to play a key role in future lithium production as part of the company’s development and commercialization program.”
Standard Lithium has developed a fully integrated, start-to-finish, direct lithium extraction (DLE) process to selectively extract lithium from Smackover brine and produce battery-quality lithium compounds.
The company said the grade of lithium in brine used for DLE has a meaningful impact on both capital expenditures and operating costs in connection with the extraction process, with a higher grade typically resulting in lower overall costs.
Meanwhile, Standard has started a drilling program at its South West Arkansas project to support the forthcoming preliminary feasibility study. This drill program is expected to inform the resource definition and de-risk the project’s resource estimate, provide additional porosity and permeability data through the entire thickness of the productive zones in the Smackover Formation, and optimize production-wellfield design.
Standard Lithium’s stock soared 14.5% as of 10:30 a.m. in Toronto. The company has a market capitalization of C$871 million ($639.8m).
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