Source:
p. 2
Company | Interest | Ownership |
Prospect Resources Inc.
|
87 %
|
Indirect
|
Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd.
(operator)
|
100 %
|
Direct
|
Summary:
The Arcadia Lithium deposit is hosted within a series of stacked, sub parallel petalitespodumene bearing pegmatites that intrude the local Archaean age Harare Greenstone Belt. Dimensions of the pegmatites defined by drilling to date are 3.5 km along strike (SW-NE), with an average thickness of 15 m and dipping 15 degrees to the NW. The Main Pegmatite is exposed in the historical pit, and the deposit is open along strike to the southwest, where drilling is ongoing. The deposit is cut by the NNE-SSW trending Mashonganyika Fault zone, as well as a regional SW-NE trending dolerite dyke that appears to truncate the pegmatite to the NW. Continuation of the Lower Main Pegmatite has been identified and tested to the north east of the Mashonganyika Fault Zone.
The pegmatites belong to the Petalite subclass of the Rare-Element pegmatite deposit class and belong to the LCT pegmatite family.
The pegmatites are poorly to moderately zoned (but not symmetrically or asymmetrically zoned and have no quartz core). The main lithium bearing minerals are dominantly petalite and spodumene, with sub-ordinate eucryptite, bikitaite, and minor lepidolite. In addition, disseminated tantalite is present. Gangue minerals are quartz, alkali feldspars and muscovite.
The pegmatites strike 045° and dip at 10° to the northwest.
Summary:
Due to the shallowness of the orebody, open pit mining method is the most convenient and economic extraction method. The pit design takes cognisance of the local resource geometry to optimise the location of the ramps with respect to pit entry location, pit base access and utilisation of the pit floor for access to the final benches.
CSA Global developed a life of mine production schedule using MineSched software to meet production criteria constraints. The mine schedule was prepared based on the following criteria:
- The process plant has six-month ramp-up period prior to a steady state throughput rate of 200 000 tpm;
- Low grade ore is to be fed into the processes in the first month of commissioning, with high grade ore (+1.0% Li2O) thereafter. The remaining mined low-grade ore is to be stockpiled and fed to the process plant when high grade ore reserves are exhausted or blended with very high-grade ore to produce a relatively constant product production profile over life of mine.
The Project’s LOM strip ratio is 3.2 tonnes of waste per 1 tonne of ore. Mining during the first 3 years will deliver petalite-rich Main Pegmatite ore to the treatment plant, thus enhancing early cash flow by the production of premium technical grade petalite concentrate.
Waste dumps are located as close as possible to pit exit points to minimise haulage profiles without disrupting the access to the Ore Reserve or crushing plant. Mining operations are to be conducted utilising a contracted mining fleet. Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe (PLZ), the operating subsidiary, will be responsible for managing and supervising the contractor to ensure compliance to all business ethics, safety and occupational health and environmental compliances.
It is planned that mining will be performed by diesel hydraulic track mounted backhoe excavators with ore and waste hauled using off-road dump trucks. Optimisation of equipment fleets will continuously be monitored to ensure mining unit costs are minimised. To maximise project NPV, ore will split into high grade ore (+1.0% Li2O) and low-grade ore. High grade ore will be trucked directly to the ROM pad, stockpiled on ore fingers and blended into the process plant using front- end loaders. Low grade ore will be stockpiled separately and rehandled to the ROM pad for crushing on completion of mining operations or where the grade of the high-grade feed is too high requiring blending to ensure a relatively constant product production profile over the life of mine.
Ore and waste are identified and mined separately in 2.5 to 10-metre-high benches respectively. Ore boundaries are identified using grade control drilling, blast drill holes and cross pit trenches.
Crusher / Mill Type | Model | Size | Power | Quantity |
Jaw crusher
|
|
|
|
1
|
Cone crusher
|
|
|
|
1
|
High Pressure Grinding Rolls (HPGR)
|
|
|
|
1
|
Ball mill
|
|
|
|
1
|
Summary:
The ore is hard, brittle and abrasive and 3-stage crushing incorporating high pressure grinding roll crushing (HPGR) has been selected to achieve the sub-3 mm crush size required to achieve adequate liberation of petalite for primary recovery by DMS.
Processing
- Desliming
- Spiral concentrator / separator
- Flotation
- Dense media separation
- Magnetic separation
Flow Sheet:
Summary:
The samples used for the 2019 testwork program were taken from a bulk Main Pegmatite (MP) blast in the Arcadia pit and drill cores taken from within the 2018 DFS mining plans phase 1 and 2 pits. The testwork was completed in the following key areas; comminution improvement, gravity process enhancements (DMS and spirals), tantalum recovery and spodumene flotation.
A split DMS concept (coarse and fines) with rougher and cleaner stages has been adopted. The target grade for petalite products is 4% Li2O; with 80% petalite from the DMS meeting Technical grade specification (<0.05% Fe2O3) and the balance meeting Chemical grade specification.
The Technical Grade ultra-low iron petalite products will be milled, subjected to wet high intensity magnetic separation (WHIMS), dried and packaged while the Chemical grade petalite will be stacked to allow drainage and partial air-drying prior to being packed into bulk bags and weighed.
The spodumene grain size is fin ........

Recoveries & Grades:
Commodity | Parameter | Avg. LOM |
Ta2O5
|
Concentrate Grade, %
| ......  |
Petalite
|
Recovery Rate, %
| ......  |
Petalite
|
Head Grade, %
| 1.22 |
Petalite
|
Concentrate Grade, %
| ......  |
Spodumene
|
Recovery Rate, %
| ......  |
Spodumene
|
Head Grade, %
| 1.22 |
Spodumene
|
Concentrate Grade, %
| ......  |
- Subscription is required.
Projected Production:
Commodity | Units | Avg. Annual |
Ta2O5
|
k lbs
| 174 |
Petalite
|
kt
| ......  |
Spodumene
|
kt
| ......  |
All production numbers are expressed as concentrate.
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | |
Stripping / waste ratio
| ......  |
Plant annual capacity
| ......  |
* According to 2019 study.
- Subscription is required.
Reserves at November 1, 2019:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Commodity |
Proven
|
11.3 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.28 %
|
144 kt
|
Proven
|
11.3 Mt
|
Ta2O5
|
114 ppm
|
2.8 M lbs
|
Probable
|
26.1 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.2 %
|
314 kt
|
Probable
|
26.1 Mt
|
Ta2O5
|
124 ppm
|
7.2 M lbs
|
Proven & Probable
|
37.4 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.22 %
|
457 kt
|
Proven & Probable
|
37.4 Mt
|
Ta2O5
|
121 ppm
|
10 M lbs
|
- Subscription is required.