MinRes, Neometals eye Goldfields lithium plant

The move to build a downstream lithium processing plant in the Goldfields is gathering pace, with Chris Reed’s Neometals and Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources signing a memorandum of understanding to progress development.

Neometals and MinRes announced the MOU on Friday and laid out a plan to use lithium concentrate from their jointly owned Mt Marion project to produce “a battery-quality, lithium hydroxide product suitable for direct sales to the lithium ion battery industry for use in production of battery cathodes”.

Neometals said building a plant near Mt Marion in the Eastern Goldfields would ensure “operational and logistical cost benefits” while locking in an important economic driver for the region. The plant would have of capacity of 25,000 tonnes a year of of lithium carbonate equivalent.

“With the transition of Mt Marion to production we are now confident that a downstream lithium processing plant located nearby to Mt Marion will deliver superior economic outcomes for the JV partners with the added benefit of bring new employment opportunities to the Goldfields,” Mr Reed said.

The partners will immediately begin selecting a site, applying for various environmental and regulatory permits and start front-end engineering and design work. A final investment decision is expected by the third quarter of next year.

MinRes subsidiary Process Minerals International owns 43.1 per cent of Mt Marion owner RIM. Neometals, which Mr Reed founded as Reed Resources in 2001, owns 13.8 per cent and China’s Ganfeng Lithium owns the balance of RIM.

MinRes and Neometals have signed offtake arrangements with RIM, which allow them to buy 51 per cent of the spodumene, which is a source of lithium, produced from Mt Marion from 2020.

Ganfeng is taking all production until 2020, when its take will drop to 49 per cent.

Neometals and MinRes are separately continuing their program to commercialise their patented ELi process,which the companies believe can cheaply produce lithium hydroxide from the hard-rock lithium prevalent in Australia.