Name of the Project
Earl Grey lithium project.

Location
Earl Grey is located in Kidman’s Mt Holland gold and lithium tenements, located about 105 km south-southeast of Southern Cross, in the Yilgarn Mineral Field of Western Australia.

Client
Kidman Resources. In July Kidman announced a transaction with SQM, which will result in a 50:50 joint venture (JV) involving the Earl Grey project, in return for an investment by SQM of $110-million.

Project Description
A scoping study has examined a base case scenario at the project to produce a saleable concentrate for the export market.

Kidman has investigated a traditional processing flowsheet consisting of a two-million-tonne-a-year concentrator circuit that contains a three-stage crushing circuit, a primary dense-media separation (DMS) plant with coarse and fine circuits, a secondary (fines) DMS circuit and a flotation plant to treat the high-grade middlings from the second-stage DMS. Thickening and tailings disposal systems are also required.

Potential yearly production has been estimated at 288 000 t/y of 6% lithium concentrate over a life-of-mine of 25 years.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a base case pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $861-million and an internal rate of return of 57%.

Value
Preproduction capital has been estimated at $111-million.

Duration
The project is expected to start construction in August 2018 and take 10 to 12 months to complete, with first production expected in the first quarter of the 2019/20 financial year.

Latest Developments
Kidman has reported a 54% increase in the resource estimate at the project.

The company has increased the resource estimate to 189-million tonnes, grading 1.5% lithium oxide for 7.03-million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.

An estimated 91% of the resource is measured as classified or indicated.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Kidman Resources, tel +61 3 9671 3801, fax +61 3 9671 3523 or email info@kidmanresources.com.au.