A Pre-Feasibility Study (the Study) to evaluate the Phase 1 L-Max® Project (the Project) has been completed by MinMet Services Pty Ltd. The Project is based on the L-Max® process technology which extracts lithium from lithium bearing micas to produce a lithium carbonate product. The Phase 1 Plant is a demonstration scale plant designed to produce 2,000 – 4,000 tpa of battery grade lithium carbonate. The plant can also produce valuable by-products.

A DFS for the Project is planned to be completed in 2017, with project implementation commencing early in 2018 and first production in 2019.

A Pre-Feasibility Study (the Study) to evaluate the Phase 1 L-Max® Project (the Project) has been completed by MinMet Services Pty Ltd. The Project is based on the L-Max® process technology which extracts lithium from lithium bearing micas to produce a lithium carbonate product. The Phase 1 Plant is a demonstration scale plant designed to produce 2,000 – 4,000 tpa of battery grade lithium carbonate. The plant can also produce valuable by-products.

A DFS for the Project is planned to be completed in 2017, with project implementation commencing early in 2018 and first production in 2019.

A Pre-Feasibility Study (the Study) to evaluate the Phase 1 L-Max® Project (the Project) has been completed by MinMet Services Pty Ltd. The Project is based on the L-Max® process technology which extracts lithium from lithium bearing micas to produce a lithium carbonate product. The Phase 1 Plant is a demonstration scale plant designed to produce 2,000 – 4,000 tpa of battery grade lithium carbonate. The plant can also produce valuable by-products.

A DFS for the Project is planned to be completed in 2017, with project implementation commencing early in 2018 and first production in 2019.

A Pre-Feasibility Study (the Study) to evaluate the Phase 1 L-Max® Project (the Project) has been completed by MinMet Services Pty Ltd. The Project is based on the L-Max® process technology which extracts lithium from lithium bearing micas to produce a lithium carbonate product. The Phase 1 Plant is a demonstration scale plant designed to produce 2,000 – 4,000 tpa of battery grade lithium carbonate. The plant can also produce valuable by-products.

A DFS for the Project is planned to be completed in 2017, with project implementation commencing early in 2018 and first production in 2019.

The following key findings have been determined as a result of completing this Study:

• Several lithium bearing micas have been shown to be amenable to the L-Max® process technology
• The process flowsheet is robust and can cater for variations in feed mineralogy although the quality of L-Max® feed in terms of lithium grade and lithium occurrence influences project economics
• The mineralisation type is abundant and there are several feed source options available world wide
• A single plant could be fed with multiple feed sources
• The process plant uses readily available lower cost chemicals in an atmospheric pressure, low temperature (c. 100oC) leaching environment
• Access to the main process chemical and to the high-volume by- product markets within proximity to the L-Max® plant improves the project economics
• The process uses conventional equipment which is simple to operate and maintain and can be procured with short lead times
• Battery grade lithium carbonate can be produced directly from the process
• Several valuable by-products can be produced from the process with low cost enhancements to the flowsheet – the credits are expected to provide a negative cash cost of production for lithium carbonate
• Opportunities exist to recover further products from the process residue and flowsheet enhancements will be evaluated in the feasibility study
• The process residue is stable and benign
• Project permitting is straight forward and not considered to be on the critical path of the Project schedule which has first production planned for the second half of 2019
• Opportunities exist to modularise and streamline the design and construction of the plant
• Equipment can be scaled for low cost debottlenecking after production stabilisation occurs
• The Phase 1 (demonstrate scale) Project provides strong returns using realistic third party sourced assumptions
• Preliminary evaluation of a full-scale plant show that the economics will be significantly improved with scale of production