Bacanora Minerals Ltd. said Dec. 12 that the feasibility study for its Sonora lithium project in Sonora, Mexico, estimated a posttax net present value of US$802.5 million at an 8% discount rate and an internal rate of return of 21.2%, with average life-of-mine operating costs of US$3,910 per tonne of lithium carbonate.
According to the company, the results confirm the positive economics and favorable operating costs for a 35,000-tonne-per-annum battery-grade lithium carbonate operation.
The study also projected a simple stage-one project payback of four years, with the capital cost estimated at US$419.6 million. The annual lithium carbonate production capacity for the first stage is expected to be 17,500 tonnes, and then doubling to 35,000 tonnes after the completion of stage two. The capital cost for stage two is estimated at US$380.3 million, while the sustaining mining and processing capital requirement for the life of mine is about US$140.6 million.
The total measured and indicated resource for Sonora stands at 291 million tonnes grading 3,250 parts per million of lithium and 1.4% potassium, for 5.0 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, with an additional inferred resource of 268 million tonnes grading 2,650 ppm of lithium and 1.2% potassium, for 3.8 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.
Bacanora secured environmental approval for Sonora in October, followed by access and surface rights in November.
