Arcadia Lithium Project
Case Study: Arcadia
Since Acquiring the project in mid-2016, PSC progressed the project from discovery to one of the most advanced lithium projects in Africa. Prospect generated shareholder value through the systemic de-risking and advancement of the project.
- Rigorous exploration programme including trenching, soil sampling and RC/diamond drilling
- Delivered JORC compliant Resource of 72.7Mt @ 1.06% Li2O[1]
- Extensive metallurgical testwork backed by design of low-risk flowsheet
- Delivered high certainty Optimised Feasibility Study to bankable standard
- Deep understanding of underlying terminal/non-terminal lithium markets, including petalite
- Secured offtake agreements with Tier 1 global customers
- De-risked market integration through delivery and operation of pilot plant
- Significant improvements and increased recoveries achieved
- Produced, sold and delivered on-spec product to customers
- Developed and maintained strong level of government, community and stakeholder relations
On 20 April 2022, Prospect completed the sale of its 87% interest in the Arcadia Project to Huayou International Mining (Hong Kong) Limited, a subsidiary of Huayou.
The Transaction comprised cash consideration of approximately US$377.8 million. Following payment of US$26.8 million in Zimbabwean capital gains tax and US$8 million to Sinomine in relation to the termination of the offtake agreement between Prospect and Sinomine,[2] US$342.9 million in net proceeds were received by Prospect on completion.
JORC Mineral Resource and Ore Reserves
The geology of the greater Arcadia area is dominated by greenstone lithologies of the Arcturus formation of the Harare Greenstone Belt (HGB). These greenstones are encircled and intruded by a variable suite of granitic rocks, the oldest of which may have been coeval with the youngest felsic volcanic rocks of the belt. There is also some evidence for a small remnant area of gneissic basement to the greenstone belt.
Arcadia is a high grade, large tonnage deposit consisting of series of stacked mineralised pegmatites extends for over 3 km of strike length, while surface mapping and trenching has shown the total strike length to be almost 4.5 km, with definite further potential to delineate additional resources along strike and with the possibility of discovery of additional parallel ore bodies.
As of October 2021, the JORC compliant Mineral Resource estimates for the Arcadia Lithium Project were:
Table 1: Arcadia Mineral Resource estimate 0.2% Li2O Cut-off (October 2021)
|
Category |
Tonnes (Millions) |
Li2O % |
Ta2O5 ppm |
Contained Tonnes Li2O |
Ta2O5 (Mlbs) |
|
Measured |
15.8 |
1.12% |
113 |
176,900 |
3.9 |
|
Indicated |
45.6 |
1.06% |
124 |
483,600 |
12.5 |
|
Inferred |
11.2 |
0.99% |
119 |
111,300 |
2.9 |
|
Total |
72.7 |
1.06% |
119 |
770,200 |
19.4 |
Table 2: Arcadia Ore Reserve estimate (October 2021)
|
Category |
Tonnes (Mt) |
Grade (Li2O %) |
Contained Li2O (Mt) |
Ta2O5 (ppm) |
Contained Ta2O5 (Mlb) |
|
Proved |
11.8 |
1.25 |
144,000 |
114 |
3.0 |
|
Probable |
30.5 |
1.17 |
357,000 |
123 |
8.3 |
|
Total Ore Reserve |
42.3 |
1.19 |
504,000 |
121 |
11.3 |