Birimian looks at expanded Mali project

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Lithium developer Birimian has pushed back the due date for a prefeasibility study (PFS) on its Bougouni lithium project, in Mali, from the end of June until the end of September, after a decision was taken to expand the scope of the study.

The PFS will now be extended to explore the viability of building a secondary processing plant on site to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate or hydroxide, after metallurgical testwork to date confirmed the project’s ability to generate high-grade spodumene concentrate from expanded resources.

A January scoping study estimated that the Bougouni project could produce some 19 000 t/y of lithium concentrate over a mine life of 13 years, with capital costs estimated at $83.4-million for a two-stage development.

Birimian on Thursday also reported a 15% increase in the indicated and inferred resource at the Goulamina deposit, within the Bougouni project, which now stood at 32.9-million tonnes, grading 1.37% lithium oxide for 451 000 t of contained lithium oxide. This included an indicated resource of around 347 000 t.

The mineralised zone remains open along strike and at depth, and two new spodumene bearing exploration targets have been identified as outcrop to the south west of the existing deposit.