TIDMEMH
RNS Number : 6395R
European Metals Holdings Limited
13 December 2016
For immediate release
13 December 2016
EUROPEAN METALS HOLDINGS LIMITED
CINOVEC LITHIUM PROJECT: PRODUCTION OF BATTERY GRADE LITHIUM
CARBONATE FROM SODIUM SULPHATE ROAST
European Metals Holdings Limited ("European Metals" or "the
Company") (ASX and AIM: EMH) is pleased to announce the successful
manufacture of >99.5% pure lithium carbonate using an industry
proven, sodium sulphate roast-based flow-sheet from
mica-concentrate from the Cinovec Project.
Cinovec, which contains the largest lithium resource in Europe
and one of the largest undeveloped tin resources in the world, is
the Company's 100% owned lithium and tin project located in the
Czech Republic.
The roasting flow-sheet reflects a simplified version of the
well-proven technology that converts spodumene concentrate to
lithium carbonate. Numerous lithium carbonate plants currently
employ this technology internationally.
Highlights:
* Production of >99.5% battery grade lithium carbonate
* High roast recoveries of 87% achieved
* Reduced process costs - key reagent recycled
* Minimal leaching of unwanted impurities, resulting in
simpler precipitation of battery grade lithium
carbonate
* Offtaker and end user testing - production of lithium
carbonate samples underway
European Metals Managing Director Keith Coughlan said, "This is
a major milestone in the development of the Cinovec project and we
are delighted with the results. We have now produced battery grade
lithium carbonate via a second process route. This follows the
successful production of battery grade material via acid leach
during the scoping study last year.
These results follow the previous success of the project team in
developing a robust, simplified flow-sheet for beneficiating the
run-of-mine ore to produce a lithium mica concentrate using high
intensity wet magnetics.
Having proven the processing circuit, the team is now focused on
delivering the Pre- Feasibility Study by the end of March 2017.
Part of this process includes further optimising the roasting and
hydrometallurgical circuits to produce market samples for off taker
and end user testing."
Further details of the Sodium Sulphate Roast flow-sheet
The tests were conducted at Nagrom Metallurgy, who have
industry-wide experience treating lithium ore, and have ISO:8000
accreditation. The testwork was a progression from the extensive
investigation carried out by Dorfner Anzaplan earlier in the year
which identified the process as one of two preferred routes that
should be progressed for lithium carbonate precipitation.
The sodium sulphate flow-sheet is similar to the well proven
Chinese sulphation roast but instead of using acid for leaching the
concentrate, sodium sulphate is used and recycled back to the
roast. This technology uses far less reagents and is more
environmentally friendly as it does not produce unwanted
by-products. An additional benefit of this process, other than the
minimal use of reagents and elimination of acid usage, is that its
chemical conditions are milder, which is expected to translate into
lower costs compared with the sulphation processes.
Next steps for Sodium Sulphate Roast
Current results are from the first phase of the test work
program. A larger program begins in mid-December. During the next
phase of testwork, the hydrometallurgical parameters will be
fine-tuned in with a focus on improving lithium recovery and
reducing reagent consumption. The aim of the upcoming larger
testwork program is to:
* further optimise the roasting and hydrometallurgical
conditions
* provide design input into the Pre-feasibility Study
which is due to be completed by the end of March 2017
* produce a 5kg battery grade lithium carbonate sample
for offtaker and end user testing
* improve understanding of variability effects for
changes in concentrate feed composition
Tin and Tungsten Testwork Results
ALS Bernie in Tasmania have recently concluded a tin and
tungsten liberation Lock-cycle testwork program with favourable
results. A final tin concentrate grade of 61.7% was achieved after
dressing.
Tin, in particular remains a key co-product credit for the
Cinovec Project. The current price of tin on the London Metals
Exchange is at recent highs in the vicinity of USD 21,000/t. Prices
in this range represent a significant economic benefit to the
project.
Under an EU funded research program FAME, metallurgical testwork
on Cinovec samples provided by the Company continues. The program
is principally focused on crushing and milling optimisation.
Nagrom Metallurgy
Nagrom conducts testwork and analysis for a number of Australian
based lithium explorers and developers. They have also carried out
a significant amount of lithium hydromet work for major industry
participants, and have been actively involved in the Australian
mining industry for some 30 years.
QA/QC
Strict QA/QC program has been implemented by both Nagrom and
EMH, all samples are duplicated with industry standards inserted.
Nagrom has used multiple assay runs, including XRF, ICP-MS and
ICP-OES to confirm the accuracy of the results.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON CINOVEC
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Cinovec Lithium/Tin Project
European Metals owns 100% of the Cinovec lithium-tin deposit in
the Czech Republic. Cinovec is an historic mine incorporating a
significant undeveloped lithium-tin resource with by-product
potential including tungsten, rubidium, scandium, niobium and
tantalum and potash. Cinovec hosts a globally significant hard rock
lithium deposit with a total Indicated Mineral Resource of 232.8 Mt
@ 0.45% Li(2) O and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 606.8 Mt @
0.43% Li(2) O containing a combined 6.46 million tonnes Lithium
Carbonate Equivalent.
This makes Cinovec the largest lithium deposit in Europe and the
fourth largest non-brine deposit in the world.
Within this resource lies one of the largest undeveloped tin
deposits in the world, with total Indicated Mineral Resource of
28.6 Mt @ 0.23% Sn and an Inferred Mineral Resources of 59.7 Mt
grading 0.21% Sn for a combined total of 178kt of contained tin.
The Mineral Resource Estimates have been previously released on 23
November 2016. The deposit has previously had over 400,000 tonnes
of ore mined as a trial sub-level open stope underground mining
operation.
A Scoping Study conducted by specialist independent consultants
indicates the deposit could be amenable to bulk underground mining.
Metallurgical test work has produced both battery grade lithium
carbonate and high-grade tin concentrate at excellent recoveries
with the Scoping Study. Cinovec is centrally located for European
end-users and is well serviced by infrastructure, with a sealed
road adjacent to the deposit, rail lines located 5 km north and 8
km south of the deposit and an active 22 kV transmission line
running to the historic mine. As the deposit lies in an active
mining region, it has strong community support.
CONTACT
For further information on this update or the Company generally,
please visit our website at www.europeanmet.com or contact:
Mr. Keith Coughlan
Managing Director
COMPETENT PERSON
Information in this release that relates to exploration results
is based on information compiled by European Metals Director Dr
Pavel Reichl. Dr Reichl is a Certified Professional Geologist
(certified by the American Institute of Professional Geologists), a
member of the American Institute of Professional Geologists, a
Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists and is a Competent
Person as defined in the 2012 edition of the Australasian Code for
Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore
Reserves and a Qualified Person for the purposes of the AIM
Guidance Note on Mining and Oil & Gas Companies dated June
2009. Dr Reichl consents to the inclusion in the release of the
matters based on his information in the form and context in which
it appears. Dr Reichl holds CDIs in European Metals.
The information in this release that relates to Mineral
Resources and Exploration Targets has been compiled by Mr Lynn
Widenbar. Mr Widenbar, who is a Member of the Australasian
Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, is a full time employee of
Widenbar and Associates and produced the estimate based on data and
geological information supplied by European Metals. Mr Widenbar has
sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of
mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the
activity that he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as
defined in the JORC Code 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for
Reporting of Exploration Results, Minerals Resources and Ore
Reserves. Mr Widenbar consents to the inclusion in this report of
the matters based on his information in the form and context that
the information appears.
CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Information included in this release constitutes forward-looking
statements. Often, but not always, forward looking statements can
generally be identified by the use of forward looking words such as
"may", "will", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate",
"anticipate", "continue", and "guidance", or other similar words
and may include, without limitation, statements regarding plans,
strategies and objectives of management, anticipated production or
construction commencement dates and expected costs or production
outputs.
Forward looking statements inherently involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the company's
actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially
from any future results, performance or achievements. Relevant
factors may include, but are not limited to, changes in commodity
prices, foreign exchange fluctuations and general economic
conditions, increased costs and demand for production inputs, the
speculative nature of exploration and project development,
including the risks of obtaining necessary licences and permits and
diminishing quantities or grades of reserves, political and social
risks, changes to the regulatory framework within which the company
operates or may in the future operate, environmental conditions
including extreme weather conditions, recruitment and retention of
personnel, industrial relations issues and litigation.
Forward looking statements are based on the company and its
management's good faith assumptions relating to the financial,
market, regulatory and other relevant environments that will exist
and affect the company's business and operations in the future. The
company does not give any assurance that the assumptions on which
forward looking statements are based will prove to be correct, or
that the company's business or operations will not be affected in
any material manner by these or other factors not foreseen or
foreseeable by the company or management or beyond the company's
control.
Although the company attempts and has attempted to identify
factors that would cause actual actions, events or results to
differ materially from those disclosed in forward looking
statements, there may be other factors that could cause actual
results, performance, achievements or events not to be as
anticipated, estimated or intended, and many events are beyond the
reasonable control of the company. Accordingly, readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking
statements. Forward looking statements in these materials speak
only at the date of issue. Subject to any continuing obligations
under applicable law or any relevant stock exchange listing rules,
in providing this information the company does not undertake any
obligation to publicly update or revise any of the forward looking
statements or to advise of any change in events, conditions or
circumstances on which any such statement is based.
LITHIUM CLASSIFICATION AND CONVERSION FACTORS
Lithium grades are normally presented in percentages or parts
per million (ppm). Grades of deposits are also expressed as lithium
compounds in percentages, for example as a percent lithium oxide
(Li(2) O) content or percent lithium carbonate (Li(2) CO(3) )
content.
Lithium carbonate equivalent ("LCE") is the industry standard
terminology for, and is equivalent to, Li(2) CO(3) . Use of LCE is
to provide data comparable with industry reports and is the total
equivalent amount of lithium carbonate, assuming the lithium
content in the deposit is converted to lithium carbonate, using the
conversion rates in the table included below to get an equivalent
Li(2) CO(3) value in percent. Use of LCE assumes 100% recovery and
no process losses in the extraction of Li(2) CO(3) from the
deposit.
Lithium resources and reserves are usually presented in tonnes
of LCE or Li.
To convert the Li Inferred Mineral Resource of 532Mt @ 0.20% Li
grade (as per the Competent Persons Report dated May 2016) to Li(2)
O, the reported Li grade of 0.20% is multiplied by the standard
conversion factor of 2.153 which results in an equivalent Li(2) O
grade of 0.43%.
The standard conversion factors are set out in the table
below:
Table: Conversion Factors for Lithium Compounds and Minerals
Convert from Convert Convert Convert to
to Li to Li(2) Li(2) CO(3)
O
------------------- ------- -------- ---------- -------------
Lithium Li 1.000 2.153 5.323
Li(2)
Lithium Oxide O 0.464 1.000 2.473
Li(2)
Lithium Carbonate CO3 0.188 0.404 1.000
------------------- ------- -------- ---------- -------------
WEBSITE
A copy of this announcement is available from the Company's
website at www.europeanmet.com.
TECHNICAL GLOSSARY
The following is a summary of technical terms:
"carbonate" refers to a carbonate mineral such
as calcite, CaCO(3)
"cut-off grade" lowest grade of mineralised material
considered economic, used in the
calculation of Mineral Resources
"deposit" coherent geological body such as
a mineralised body
"exploration" method by which ore deposits are
evaluated
"g/t" gram per metric tonne
"grade" relative quantity or the percentage
of ore mineral or metal content
in an ore body
"Indicated" as defined in the JORC and SAMREC
or "Indicated Codes, is that part of a Mineral
Mineral Resource" Resource which has been sampled
by drill holes, underground openings
or other sampling procedures at
locations that are too widely spaced
to ensure continuity but close
enough to give a reasonable indication
of continuity and where geoscientific
data are known with a reasonable
degree of reliability. An Indicated
Mineral Resource will be based
on more data and therefore will
be more reliable than an Inferred
Mineral Resource estimate
"Inferred" or as defined in the JORC and SAMREC
"Inferred Mineral Codes, is that part of a Mineral
Resource" Resource for which the tonnage
and grade and mineral content can
be estimated with a low level of
confidence. It is inferred from
the geological evidence and has
assumed but not verified geological
and/or grade continuity. It is
based on information gathered through
the appropriate techniques from
locations such as outcrops, trenches,
pits, working and drill holes which
may be limited or of uncertain
quality and reliability
"JORC Code" Joint Ore Reserve Committee Code;
the Committee is convened under
the auspices of the Australasian
Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
"kt" thousand tonnes
"LCE" the total equivalent amount of
lithium carbonate (see explanation
above entitled Explanation of Lithium
Classification and Conversion Factors)
"lithium" a soft, silvery-white metallic
element of the alkali group, the
lightest of all metals
"lithium carbonate" the lithium salt of carbonate with
the formula Li(2) CO(3)
"Measured" or Measured: a mineral resource intersected
Measured Mineral and tested by drill holes, underground
Resources" openings or other sampling procedures
at locations which are spaced closely
enough to confirm continuity and
where geoscientific data are reliably
known; a measured mineral resource
estimate will be based on a substantial
amount of reliable data, interpretation
and evaluation which allows a clear
determination to be made of shapes,
sizes, densities and grades. Indicated:
a mineral resource sampled by drill
holes, underground openings or
other sampling procedures at locations
too widely spaced to ensure continuity
but close enough to give a reasonable
indication of continuity and where
geoscientific data are known with
a reasonable degree of reliability;
an indicated resource will be based
on more data, and therefore will
be more reliable than an inferred
resource estimate. Inferred: a
mineral resource inferred from
geoscientific evidence, underground
openings or other sampling procedures
where the lack of data is such
that continuity cannot be predicted
with confidence and where geoscientific
data may not be known with a reasonable
level of reliability
"metallurgical" describing the science concerned
with the production, purification
and properties of metals and their
applications
"Mineral Resource" a concentration or occurrence of
material of intrinsic economic
interest in or on the Earth's crust
in such a form that there are reasonable
prospects for the eventual economic
extraction; the location, quantity,
grade geological characteristics
and continuity of a mineral resource
are known, estimated or interpreted
from specific geological evidence
and knowledge; mineral resources
are sub-divided into Inferred,
Indicated and Measured categories
"mineralisation" process of formation and concentration
of elements and their chemical
compounds within a mass or body
of rock
"Mt" million tonnes
"ppm" parts per million
"recovery" proportion of valuable material
obtained in the processing of an
ore, stated as a percentage of
the material recovered compared
with the total material present
"roast" A processing of converting mineralogical
composition of a concentrate by
using heat and a reagent.
"spodumene" A mineral, Li Al Si(2) O(6) ;
monclinic-Aluminosilicates; colourless,
yellow, light green, emerald-green,
pink to violet, purple, white,
grey; in granites, pegmatites.
Current hard rock source for lithium
producers.
"stope" underground excavation within the
orebody where the main production
takes place
"t" a metric tonne
"tin" A tetragonal mineral, rare; soft;
malleable: bluish white, found
chiefly in cassiterite, SnO(2)
"treatment" Physical or chemical treatment
to extract the valuable metals/minerals
"tungsten" hard, brittle, white or grey metallic
element. Chemical symbol, W; also
known as wolfram
"W" chemical symbol for tungsten
ADDITIONAL GEOLOGICAL TERMS
"apical" relating to, or denoting an apex
"cassiterite" A mineral, tin dioxide, SnO2. Ore
of tin with specific gravity 7
"cupola" A dome-shaped projection at the
top of an igneous intrusion
"dip" the true dip of a plane is the angle
it makes with the horizontal plane
"granite" coarse-grained intrusive igneous
rock dominated by light-coloured
minerals, consisting of about 50%
orthoclase, 25% quartz and balance
of plagioclase feldspars and ferromagnesian
silicates
"greisen" A pneumatolitically altered granitic
rock composed largely of quartz,
mica, and topaz. The mica is usually
muscovite or lepidolite. Tourmaline,
fluorite, rutile, cassiterite, and
wolframite are common accessory
minerals
"igneous" said of a rock or mineral that solidified
from molten or partly molten material,
i.e., from a magma
"muscovite" also known as potash mica; formula:
KAl(2) (AlSi(3) O(10) )(F,OH)(2)
.
"quartz" a mineral composed of silicon dioxide,
SiO2
"rhyolite" An igneous, volcanic rock of felsic
(silica rich) composition. Typically
>69% SiO(2)
"vein" a tabular deposit of minerals occupying
a fracture, in which particles may
grow away from the walls towards
the middle
"wolframite" A mineral, (Fe,Mn)WO(4) ; within
the huebnerite-ferberite series
"zinnwaldite" A mineral, KLiFeAl(AlSi(3) )O(10)
(F,OH)(2) ; mica group; basal cleavage;
pale violet, yellowish or greyish
brown; in granites, pegmatites,
and greisens
ENQUIRIES:
European Metals Holdings
Limited Tel: +61 (0) 419 996
Keith Coughlan, Chief 333
Executive Officer Email: keith@europeanmet.com
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7440
Kiran Morzaria, Non-Executive 0647
Director
Tel: +61 (0) 6141 3504
Julia Beckett, Company Email: julia@europeanmet.com
Secretary
Beaumont Cornish (Nomad Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628
& Broker) 3396
Michael Cornish Email: corpfin@b-cornish.co.uk
Roland Cornish
The information contained within this announcement is considered
to be inside information, for the purposes of Article 7 of EU
Regulation 596/2014, prior to its release.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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