PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The vertically integrated Piedmont lithium project is expected to produce 22 700 t/y of lithium hydroxide over an initial 13-year mine life, the project’s eponymous owner reported on Thursday.

ASX-listed Piedmont Lithium said that a scoping study contemplated a staged development approach for the US project to minimise start-up risk and up-front capital requirements.

The Stage 1 operation, which will consist of a mine/concentrator operation producing 170 000 t/y of low-iron spodumene concentrate, will require a capital investment of $91-million.

The Stage 2 project will include a chemical plant that will be operational two years after the mine, and will be built at a direct development cost of $252.6-million that will be funded largely by internal cash flow.

The integrated project is expected to have annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of $220-million and an annual after tax cash flow of between $170-million and $180-million.

The integrated project is also estimated to have an after tax net present value of $777-million and an internal rate of return of 56%.

“We are very pleased with the results of the scoping study. The economic benefit of developing an integrated lithium chemical business in North Carolina is now clear, driven by the exceptional infrastructure and human resource advantages of our location, as well as the competitive royalty and tax regime offered in the US,” said Piedmont president and CEO Keith Phillips.

“We look forward to an exciting period ahead as we work to enhance the project even further through continued growth in our resource base and project life, and the evaluation of potential by-product credits.”

A prefeasibility study for the integrated project will now be undertaken, while a by-product study is expected in the second half of 2018.