Name of the Project
San Jose lithium/tin project.

Location
The project is located in the Extremadura region of Spain.

Client
The project is a joint venture (JV) between Plymouth Minerals and Valoriza Mineria.

The JV agreement enables Plymouth to earn up to 75% interest in San Jose. 

During mine development, Valoriza Mineria will be a pro-rata 25% contributing partner to mine development and capital costs.

Plymouth has earned a 50% interest and expects to increase its ownership to 75% of the project through the completion of the feasibility study.

Project Description
A scoping study has demonstrated the potential for a robust lithium development at the San Jose project.

The project has estimated indicated resources of 23.9-million tonnes and inferred resources of 68.3-million tonnes.

The study recommends mining lithium mica and treating this material using a sulphate-roast and water-leach process to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate on site.

Conventional drill-and-blast and truck-and-shovel openpit mining methods will be employed. All material will be drilled, blasted and loaded by an excavator in backhoe configuration onto articulated dump trucks. 

The trucks will haul high-grade ore using an appropriately constructed haul road to the on-site process facility. 

Lower-grade ore will be hauled to an ore stockpile and stored for processing once all the higher-grade ore has been depleted. 

Waste rock will be directly hauled by the same trucks to an appropriately constructed waste dump.

The operation has a potential life-of-mine of 24.1 years.

The process plant will treat about 1.25-million tonnes of ore a year to produce an estimated 15 000 t/y of battery-grade lithium carbonate.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a base case net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $401-million and an internal rate of return of 28%, with a payback from the start of production of 2.7 years.

Value
Preproduction capital is estimated at $273-million, The mineral and hydrometallurgy processing components will make up the major cost component of producing lithium carbonate on site.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
After completing a successful $6.5-million capital raising in December, Plymouth has started the San Jose feasibility study, which it intends to complete this year.

To finalise the process of lodging the mining licence application (MLA), which earned Plymouth its initial 50% interest in the project, all supporting documentation has been submitted to the relevant authorities in Extremadura, Spain.

Plymouth and Valoriza Mineria have presented the lithium/tin project to various government authorities.
The planned technical work for the feasibility study is substantial and will advance San Jose significantly. “This will also be matched by a keen focus on permitting and social aspects, which are best conducted from the local area and office in Caceres,” the company has said.

Engagement with local stakeholders will now increase, while the increase in administrative and permitting activities will lead to the hiring of additional people working in Caceres going forward.

As part of the ongoing feasibility study, geotechnical and metallurgical drilling will start this month.

The metallurgical drilling will deliver representative bulk sample material for larger-scale testwork to produce increased quantities of battery-grade lithium carbonate.

This programme will deliver representative material planned for the first several years of projected mine life and iss important in delivering inputs for bankable feasibility studies. Additional process testwork (beneficiation) is being conducted in parallel to accelerate the completion of the feasibility study.

The company expects to complete the feasibility study by the fourth quarter.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Plymouth Minerals executive chairperson Adrian Byass, tel +61 8 6461 6350 or email abyass@plymouthminerals.com.