Altura Mining Ltd.said April 11 that a feasibility study on the Pilgangoora lithium project in Western Australia indicateda net present value of A$382 million, using a 10% discount rate, and an internalrate of return of 59.5%.

CapEx is at A$129 million, with payback in 1.7 years.

The project contains a maiden ore reserve of 18.5 million tonnesat 1.07% lithium oxide, which underpins the initial 12-year mine plan.

The deposit will be extracted by open pit methods enhanced bythe shallow and thick mineralization allowing spodumene ore to be mined from thestart of mining. A total of 18.5 million tonnes of ore feed will produce 2.7 milliontonnes of spodumene concentrate, or 215,000 tonnes per annum.

Life of mine net revenue is A$1.56 billion, with an EBITDA ofA$774 million. Cash generated over the life of the mine will total A$773.8 million.

Cash cost will be A$298 per tonne.

A mining studyon Pilgangoora released in February looked at a planned production of 150,000 tonnesper annum of spodumene concentrate, and pegged a base case net present value ofA$277 million, using an 8% discount rate, and an internal rate of return of 42.5%.