Advantage Lithium Corp. announced that it has engaged GHD, Chile S.A. to complete early engineering geared towards the completion of a Feasibility Study (FS) to be completed by June 2019 on its flagship Cauchari Project in Jujuy province. This follows positive PEA outcomes and continued positive results in the phase III resource conversion program, on schedule to support the Feasibility Study delivery on time. The Feasibility Study will provide an appropriate engineering design to produce a Class 3 cost estimate (consistent with AACE principles) to build a standalone plant for 20,000 tonnes per year of final lithium product. A report on this work will be prepared in accordance with NI43-101 standards of disclosure and is scheduled for completion in June 2019.
David Sidoo, Founder and CEO, commented «We are very pleased to commission GHD as engineering consultants to undertake this work, given their extensive expertise and current experience in this basin. With this engagement and with the benefit of experience from the Olaroz Lithium Facility, Advantage can proceed expeditiously through to the Feasibility Study, eliminating the need for an intermediate Preliminary Feasibility Study. As a result we can continue to fast-track the development of Cauchari by leveraging technical expertise and basin knowledge gained with our partner Orocobre. Furthermore, we are benefitting from the well-developed relationships that our partner has with local communities and government.”
“I am also very pleased with the team that VP of Project Development, Andy Robb, has assembled. I believe we have put together a team that has the necessary experience to develop a project of this magnitude in the timeframe we envisage. The team has the proven technical, and management skills to make this a highly successful project for our shareholders and stakeholders in Jujuy Province.”
Andy Robb, VP of Project Development, commented: “The commencement of the Cauchari early engineering marks another key milestone in the Cauchari Project development following the PEA. We have almost completed our intensive phase III drilling program which is culminating in 30-day pumping tests on our main production targets in the NW Sector and the SE Sector deep sand. The results will feed in to an updated resource estimate in Q1 2019, which is expected to bring our resources into the Measured and Indicated categories. We are now analysing our test results, along with our QP Flosolutions Chile, as input to the dynamic groundwater flow model, which in combination with the feasibility study engineering and economic assessment will define the brine reserve for the project.”
Advantage applied a rigorous process to identify and select suitable partners to assist in the development of its Cauchari project. In that process, GHD were selected from other pre-qualified global engineering firms as the best fit for Advantages’ development plans, to complete the early engineering and establish a project execution plan to achieve first production in Q3 2021 and full post ramp-up production in 2023.
