Construction work has started at the Bald Hill lithium-tantalum mine joint venture in Western Australia under a A$30 million contract.

Tawana Resources NL and Alliance Mineral Assets Ltd. entered an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Primero Group to build a 1.2-million-tonnes-per-annum dense media separation circuit at Bald Hill.

First lithium concentrate delivery is expected in the first quarter of 2018, according to the Aug. 15 release.

The companies received environmental approval in late July to construct and operate the 1.2 million-tonnes-per-annum dense media separation plant at Bald Hill.