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LITHIUM | Piedmont Lithium
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Piedmont Lithium ‘The world’s best located lithium business’
LITHIUM | Piedmont Lithium
Between the 1950s and the 1980s, nearly all of the world’s lithium was produced from the Carolina Tin-Spodumene belt in the US state of North Carolina, and Piedmont Lithium is a young company which firmly believes that exciting mining opportunities still exist within this legendary lithium hotspot. Piedmont is a branch of the Australian mining incubator Apollo Group, and acquired its first North Carolina assets in July 2016 after Apollo’s New York City team decided to look for prospective deposits in the massive tin-spodumene belt. Apollo subsequently formed Piedmont, the group’s first lithium-focused business, which is perfectly located to take advantage of rising domestic demand for the metal, primarily from large-scale EV manufacturers.
activity on the Piedmont Lithium Project and appointed Wall Street veteran Keith Phillips as CEO and President three months later. Since then, Phillips has built the management team and led Piedmont’s progress on the project. “We have since concluded a large 12,000 metres drill programme (our Phase 2 programme) and are two-thirds of the way through a 20,000 metres Phase 3 programme. We’ve also added very strong people on the project management, process engineering and corporate side,” summarises Phillips.
The Carolina TinSpodumene belt The project is located along trend to the Hallman-Beam and Kings Mountain mines, the only two historic spodumene mines in the US, let alone within the Carolina TinSpodumene belt. The belt itself is a massive 40 miles long by one mile wide, which makes it somewhat surprising that only two mines have operated across the vast expanse since it was first identified by the US Geological Survey in 1942.
After partnering with prominent native North Carolinian geologist Lamont Leatherman,
But today, this relative paucity of further
Piedmont discovered a land package in the
exploration has provided Piedmont with
world-class Carolina Tin-Spodumene belt
ample opportunities to identify potential
and quickly acquired some initial land leases,
world-class deposits across its 1,200 acres of
completed successful initial drilling before
property in the region.
deciding to commit to the project. “It’s very clear its not mined out,” declares In April 2017, the company raised $5 million
Phillips. “It’s 40 miles long and there have
from the ASX capital market to support its
only been two mines on the property, and
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LITHIUM | Piedmont Lithium
when those mines were operating they
Consequently, Piedmont has strong grounds
provided virtually all of the world’s supply
to return to this once ubiquitous source of
of lithium. No more was really needed,
lithium in search of additional discoveries
so not a lot was done [in terms of further
to feed the ravenous contemporary lithium
exploration].”
market, and Phillips is confident that the project will deliver.
However, the lithium market of today is a different beast compared to its stature
“We’ll have our maiden resource out in June
throughout the second half of the 20th
and we believe that will be a world class initial
century. The discovery of new uses of lithium resource with substantial potential to grow. has transformed it into a massive growth
We have under-explored acreage under our
business that is 10 times larger than it used
control, and we continue to look for land on
to be and is still growing dramatically.
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the belt that has the potential to do more of
miles West of Charlotte, a booming city of
the same.”
2.4 million people and the second-fastest
‘Cradle of the Lithium industry’
growing city in the US. While it is not a mining boom town akin to Perth, Charlotte serves as a corporate headquarters for a catalogue of
Aside from being home to two major historic
major domestic businesses, including Bank of
spodumene-producing mines, this region of
America, Duke Energy and Nucor.
North Carolina has been named ‘the cradle of the lithium industry’ by Piedmont for a host
The city is also a domestic hub in the lithium
of additional reasons.
space, which is reflected by Albemarle and FMC, two of the world’s biggest lithium
The Piedmont Lithium Project is located 25
players, electing to build their headquarters
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in Charlotte. Furthermore, being the major
Another major advantage to working in this
growth city that it is, all the infrastructure
region is the remarkable affordability of land
one would expect is there - major interstate
even though the project is within touching
highways, rail, an airport and power of all
distance of the second fastest growing city in
descriptions.
the US.
“The area has also been negatively affected
Finally, when comparing the remaining
by the shutdown of a lot of textile and
costs of developing lithium mines with other
furniture plants in North Carolina, two of the
hotspots across the globe, it becomes clear
big three traditional industries in the state,
that Piedmont’s project is one of the best
along with tobacco,” reveals Phillips.
located lithium projects in the world.
“All three have been hit by new markets
Other major hard-rock deposits tend to be in
and developments and so there is a lot of
Northern Québec or Western Australia, which
skilled blue-collar labourers out of work or
are remote locations where labour camps
under-employed looking for jobs that we
need to be built and infrastructure is limited.
can offer.” The state is also home to multiple
The same goes for lithium brine deposits
universities, thus providing the perfect blend
found in high-altitude regions of the Andes in
of talent that is required for a sizeable mining
South America.
project.
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“For instance, in Québec most of the projects
December 2017.
require fly-in fly-out camps for the labour, which means labour costs will be more than
The comprehensive 20,000 metres infill
triple what we pay,” asserts Phillips. “WA is
drilling programme will contribute to the
much of the same and has high labour costs
definition of a maiden mineral resource and
as well as high costs for power, diesel, and
is also aggressively testing the extensions of
natural gas.
the pegmatites identified both along strike and down dip.
“We will have significant CAPEX savings compared to those projects. We think ours
An initial exploration target of between 10 to
is a wonderful mineral belt, one of many
15 million tonnes at a grade of between 1%
wonderful lithium belts in the world, but I
and 1.25% lithium oxide is currently has been
can’t think of any lithium as well located as
estimated by Piedmont’s partner CSA Global.
ours.”
A busy 12 months
As of April 2018, the Phase 3 drilling programme is two thirds complete with
Piedmont has already racked up a series of
six drill rigs on location and over many
accomplishments on its project over the last
holes being assayed. Drilling results will be
12 months, with many more targets also
released on a regular basis over the next
in the pipeline to 2020. Having completed
several weeks, followed by a maiden mineral
its Phase 1 and 2 drill programmes, the
resource announcement by the end of Q2
company started its Phase 3 programme in
(June).
Australian Resource Business Global Network
Piedmont also commenced its scoping
“The most important targets are in somewhat
study in January 2018, with Primero Group
chronological order: The ongoing drill
coordinating the study along with CSA. Both
programme, the US listing, the maiden
are very experienced in hard rock lithium
resource in June, which is well at hand. Fourth
mining and downstream production.
is metallurgical work which is underway, and we expect that to be largely completed in
SGS has also been a key partner on the
time for our scoping study in July/August.
project, providing all assaying services, while on the metallurgical analysis side Piedmont is
“Once we have a scoping study in place,
working with North Carolina State University’s
we will launch right into a pre-feasibility
Mineral Research Laboratory, a pioneer in
study and that will take us into the permit
the development of spodumene processing
application process and we will also continue
techniques, and Colorado-based Hazen
to develop relationships with potential
Research. Finally, the local Charlotte office
strategic and offtake partners.”
of global engineering firm HDR is leading the permitting process.
Full steam ahead
The scoping study will assess feasibility for a fully-integrated mining project including mine, concentrator, and lithium conversion
More recently, Piedmont has been working
plant to be located in the mining-friendly
on a secondary listing in the US that Phillips
North Carolina region.
hopes to complete by the end of April, which is one of several sequential targets that the company expects to hit over 2018.
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LITHIUM | Piedmont Lithium
Being able to deliver lithium in a readily
like to be able source battery materials from
usable form is going to be crucial for
the US,” he proclaims. “The battery materials
Piedmont in terms of seeking potential
supply chain is going to evolve very rapidly in
offtake agreements with end users,
the US and we are one of the only domestic
particularly from the growing EV market as
sources with any real chance of coming to
the race to mobilise viable lithium sources
development.
heats up. “Our impression is that the offtake issue will However, in the eyes of Phillips it is the
take care of itself, so long as the project is
location of the project that will have domestic
viewed to be of a sufficient scale and quality,
EV manufacturers queueing up to buy
which is the purpose of the resource, scoping
Piedmont’s lithium.
study and metallurgical work.”
“Every automotive company in the US would
Being integrated downstream will also
Resource Global Network Piedmont expects to complete its scoping study by Q3 2018, before submitting a permit submission towards the end of Q4. After a 12-month permitting timeline, the company will be clear to build its mine and downstream facilities. Therefore, the Piedmont Lithium Project is set to enter production by 2020, a date that has been widely forecasted to herald the beginning of a revolution in the domestic EV industry. “This EV boom is a secular trend that is massive and far bigger than people give it credit for. I think we are rapidly approaching a point where every major car company in the world is committing very aggressively to electrification. “They are investing billions of dollars of capital into that process and they are identifying sites and committing to them.� introduce new revenue streams for
Once they commit, there is no turning back
Piedmont, in the shape of by-products.
and Piedmont will be waiting at the front of
The company has done initial work on the
the domestic lithium supply chain with its
recoveries and flotation for by-products
arms open wide.
including quartz, feldspar and mica which there are already markets for in North Carolina. This by-product credit from these sources has the potential to significantly sweeten the project economics.
a j
Published by Anderson Murray Media Ltd
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