Name of the Project
Ewoyaa lithium project.

Location
Ghana.

Project Owner/s
Aim-listed lithium explorer and developer Atlantic Minerals. Piedmont has an earn-in right to 50% of Atlantic’s Ghanaian projects, including Ewoyaa, and the company holds a 10% equity interest in Atlantic Lithium.

Project Description
The project includes the Ewoyaa, Ewoyaa Northeast, Abonko, Anokyi, Grasscutter, Kaampakrom, Bypass, Sill and Okwesi deposits.

An updated scoping study, published in December 2021, has retained the business case for a two-million-tonne-a-year lithium operation at the project.

The updated study has increased the project’s life-of-mine operations to more than 11 years, producing an average 300 000 t/y of 6% lithium oxide spodumene concentrate.

In addition to spodumene production, the study has incorporated two additional revenue streams – a saleable direct shipping ore fines product and a saleable feldspar by-product.

The project proposes a contract mining operation, semimobile contract crushing facility and fixed conventional dense-media separation processing facility for spodumene concentration.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $789-million and an internal rate of return of 194%, with a payback of less than a year.

Capital Expenditure
$70-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Atlantic Lithium has reported the visual identification of spodumene in new drilling at the Ewoyaa lithium project.

The company has said that the new discovery offers potential to significantly expand the resource with spodumene seen over 80 m in multiple drill holes, indicating a widening of the spodumene at depth.

Drilling was completed below previously reported high-grade intervals.

Ewoyaa has a 30.1-million-tonne mineral resource grading 1.26% lithium oxide, which Atlantic Lithium says makes the project one of the world’s better-grade lithium resources.

Atlantic Lithium has mobilised a further three drill rigs following the new discovery to supplement the single rig working on site.

Two new reverse circulation rigs have arrived, with a diamond drilling rig to follow in due course.

The company has completed 52 drill holes to date for 9 166 m, with several assays pending.

The drill programme has been expanded to about 37 000 m from 19 000 m, including some infill and geotechnical drilling alongside the extension of the current resource.

One of the rigs will also test the depth of several new targets, which have been defined in auger drilling within the Ewoyaa pegmatite corridor, to the north and south of the current mineral resource estimate. 

Infill drilling will also upgrade the inferred to measured and indicated resources for the first 1.5 years of planned mine production.

Geotechnical drilling will test the ground conditions for pit wall planning and detailed engineering design.

Regional exploration auger drilling is ongoing over the Mankessim and Saltpond licences.

Increasing the scale of the Ewoyaa lithium project offers the potential for a significant increase in the proposed production rate or for a second-stage expansion, and both options should be highly value-accretive in a market that is significantly short of spodumene and lithium supply, Atlantic Lithium has noted.

A prefeasibility study is due in the third quarter to upgrade the current scoping study, despite delays in receiving assay results from labs.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Ashmore Advisory (resource modelling); Mining Focus Consultants (pit optimisation and mine scheduling); NAGROM (beneficiation testwork); ANSTO (conversion testwork); Trinol (process interpretation and design); Zivvo and Trinol (operating and capital costs, and cash flow modelling); Primero (site layouts); and First Test Minerals (industrial mineral marketing).

Contact Details for Project Information
Atlantic Minerals, tel +61 2 8072 0640 or email info@atlanticlithium.com.au.