Millennial Lithium Corp. said Jan. 31 that a preliminary economic assessment for the production of lithium carbonate from the Pastos Grandes project in Argentina estimated a posttax net present value, discounted at 8%, of US$824 million, an internal rate of return of 23.4% and a 4.5-year payback period.
The study was based on a lithium resource of 2.1 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent in the measured and indicated categories, plus 878,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent in the inferred category, for the 25,000-tonne-per-year scenario.
CapEx for the project is pegged at US$410 million, including US$60.2 million for contingency, with sustaining CapEx estimated at US$76.2 million. Operating expenses over the 25-year mine life is expected to hit US$3,218 per tonne of lithium carbonate.
The company intends to invest in advanced process test work, a production scale well and a 3-tonne-per-month pilot plant, which aims to advance further development of the project.
