Premier African Mines (PREM.L) announced on Wednesday that construction of a lithium processing unit at its Zulu mine in Zimbabwe had been completed and that spodumene concentrate production was anticipated to begin later this week.
As part of a $35 million offtake agreement struck with China’s CanMax Technologies (previously Suzhou TA&A) last year, premier built the plant, which can produce nearly 50,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate annually. Spodumene is a lithium ore with a high concentration of lithium and is a crucial component in the production of batteries for electric vehicles (300390.SZ).
According to Premier CEO George Roach, “We expect to produce spodumene, a lepidolite mica and tantalum rich concentrate, late this week assuming final official pending clearances from certain Zimbabwean agencies are received.”