Kodal Minerals reports new potential upside at Bougouni

The AIM-traded firm said the work was completed by Shandong Shengli Environment Protection Technology Company - a company associated with Shandong Ruifu Lithium - at its Yishu plant in the Chinese province of Shandong.

It said the Yishui processing plant is a two million tonne per annum dense media separation (DMS) and flotation plant, purpose-built for the concentration of spodumene mineralisation from pegmatite ore.

Looking at the results, Kodal said recoveries of the Bougouni bulk sample from the plant achieved an overall recovery of up to 83% for a 5.5 % to 6.0% lithium oxide spodumene product.

That recovery was “significantly higher” than the 71% recovery used in its initial feasibility study, and indicated upside on the project, the board said.

The spodumene concentrate was low in impurities, it added, with iron content reported at below 0.5%.

It explained that bulk sample test results would be included in an optimisation study to identify upside at Bougouni, where improved recoveries had the potential to enhance project economics.

“These results from the testing of the Bougouni bulk sample continue to highlight that the mineralisation defined at the project can be processed in a close to commercial scale to produce a high-grade, low impurity spodumene concentrate suitable for processing to battery grade lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide,” said chief executive officer Bernard Aylward.

“The bulk sample was collected from our Ngoualana prospect and this is the first area proposed for mining in our current plan.

“The significant improvement in the overall recovery of over 80% highlights potential improvement for the project and future revenue.”

Aylward said the company would internally undertake an update of the optimisation of the recently-completed feasibility study, to investigate the potential upside possible from the improved recovery outcome using a combination of dense media separation and flotation.

“It should be noted that our feasibility study, announced in the first quarter of 2020, highlighted the potential for an economically-robust mining operation, with a forecast payback period of under two years and a pre-tax internal rate of return of 58%, so the confirmation of potential upside is very exciting indeed.

“With respect to the Bougouni mining licence application submitted in January, Kodal is maintaining regular communication with officials at the Mali Ministry of Mines to monitor progress of the application.

“The application is proceeding, however, no firm timing guidance can be provided for the granting of the mining licence while Ministerial review is ongoing.”

At 0900 BST, shares in Kodal Minerals were flat at 0.035p.