The Whabouchi deposit is a lithium-bearing rare metal pegmatite. Emplacement of rare metal pegmatites is the last phase of the crystallization of a parent granite pluton. Highpressure residual fluids, with abundant water, silica, alumina, alkalis, and rich in rare elements and other volatiles from the crystallization of a pluton at modest depth, concentrate in the cupola or upper domed contact of the granite as it crystallizes. Under increasing pressure, this fluid dilates fractures in overlying rocks in a manner analogous to that of hydraulics in mechanical equipment, thereby providing feeder channels for emplacement of pegmatites at shallower depth. Progressive crystallization of the main rock-forming minerals out of this fluid enriches the final fluids in rare metals and the process culminates in the formation of rare metal pegmatites still under fluid pressure. A variety of types occur depending on the abundance and type of rare metals associated with the pluton and the physico-chemical conditions affecting the sequence of emplacement events.

The mineralization of economic interest at the Whabouchi site is found in spodumenebearing
rare metal bearing pegmatite dyke complexes. Spodumene is a lithium-bearing mineral, which contains 8 % Li2O when pure. Spodumene also contains minor amounts of niobium and tantalum. Assays for spodumene normally range between 7.6 % and 8.0 % Li2O depending on the degree of replacement by Na2O. Typically, the Whabouchi pegmatit ........

Open Pit Mining:
The mining method selected for the Project will be a conventional open pit, truck and shovel, drill and blast operation. Vegetation, topsoil and overburden will be stripped and stockpiled for future reclamation use. The ore and waste rock will be mined with 10 m high benches, drilled, blasted and loaded into heavy duty off-road haul trucks with hydraulic excavators.

A topsoil and overburden stockpile has been designed 100 m to the east of the pit ramp exit, to the south of the concentrator. Material that will be placed in this stockpile will be used for future reclamation.

The waste rock excavated from the open pit will be hauled to and placed with the tailings in the codisposal storage facilities.

The mine plan is based on an annual production of 215,022 tonnes of concentrate, which is equivalent to a Run-of-Mine (“ROM”) production of 1.03 Mt/y. The total material mined per year during the 24-year life of the open pit mine ranges from 0.26 Mt in pre-production to a maximum of 5.3 Mt in Year 10. The average annual diluted grade of Li2O varies between 1.47 % to 1.59 % during the 24-year period.

The mine equipment fleet for the open pit includes six (6) 64-tonne haul trucks, two (2) hydraulic excavators with 6 m3 buckets, two (2) diesel powered down the hole track drills that will drill 114 mm (4.5") holes as well as a fleet of support and service equipment. Blasting will be carried out using bulk emulsion with ........

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The process design has been split in two (2) locations. The concentrator plant will be located 675 m north east of the Whabouchi mine open pit while the Electrochemical Plant will be located in Shawinigan.

Whabouchi Concentrator.
The crushed mineralized material will be screened on the fine ore screen and the oversize will be upgraded in a dense media circuit after a stage of mica hydroseparation removal to produce a coarse spodumene concentrate, a tailings product and a middlings product. The DMS coarse concentrate will then be dried in a rotary dryer before treatment by a dry magnetic separation system. The magnetic product will be discarded with the tailings and the non-magnetic product will be the first portion of the final spodumene concentrate.

The DMS middlings product will be ground to less than 0.85 mm and combined with fine ore screen undersize. This ground product feeds a fine stage of mica hydroseparation removal and then goes to flotation circ ........