3Q Project Phase II: Lithium Carbonate Battery Grade Project
Zijin Mining Group Ltd. is a large multinational mining group and is engaged in the global exploration and development of copper, gold, zinc and lithium, as well as engineering and technological research. Its shares trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the ticker code 2899, and on the Shanghai Stock Exchange under the code 601899. ZIJIN-LIEX holds a 100% interest in the Tres Quebradas Expansion Project (“3Q”), in Catamarca Province, Argentina, Property through LIEX S.A.
Zijin-LIEX contracted SAXUM to develop and complete a NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report on a feasibility study (FS) level for the “3Q” Expansion Project.
For the completion of this work, SAXUM has organized a professional team and will manage the study through the support of a Process QP and an experienced team of professionals, required to complete this assignment and other QP professionals with direct experience in the completion of NI 43-101 FS Technical documents. Then, SAXUM prepared this Technical Report at the request of ZIJIN-LIEX.
The Report documents a Feasibility Study (“FS”) for the “3Q” Expansion Project, and it follows the requirements of National Instrument (“NI”) 43-101. This work provides a comprehensive assessment of geological, technical, engineering, operational, and commercial aspects (economic analysis) of the 3Q Project Expansion (Phase II), starting from the studies, reports and models related to Phase I. SAXUM has been commissioned to evaluate the technical merits of the 3Q Project Phase II and to determine the conditions under which the 3Q Project should advance to the construction stage.
The 3Q salar is situated in the well-known “Lithium Triangle” in South America and is one of the largest and highest-grade projects of its kind. Spread across an area of 353 square kilometres, the project’s mining license covers the entire surface and brine of the salar. Its resources are abundant, high in grade, and low in impurities, with favorable conditions for development The 3Q Project production facilities are split between two sites, the first one being located on the Tres Quebradas Salar, and the second one in Fiambala town.
Project Phase II will included a process plant for 30000 tons of Lithium Carbonate based on advanced technology and best industry standards. With the second Phase of the project completed, Phase I is designed to produce 20,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate per annum, with its commissioning scheduled at the end of 2023- 3Q Project will reach the 50000 tons production per year.
Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Diablillos Silver-Gold Project
Abrasilver Resource Corporation (Abrasilver) has contracted SAXUM for the purpose of the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the Diablillos Silver-Gold Project, in the framework of the Canadian Standards NI 43-101.
The Diablillos property is located in the Puna region of Argentina, in the southern part of Salta Province, approximately 160km southwest of the city of Salta. The property comprises 15 contiguous and overlapping mineral leases. Diablillos hosts several known occurrences of epithermal gold-silver mineralization. The exploration campaign has delineated the Oculto desposit, a weathered high-sulphidation epithermal gold-silver deposit hosted primarily in Tertiary volcanic and sedimentary rocks. More recent drilling encountered the Fantasma deposit, a satellite zone of silver-rich epithermal mineralization, located approximately 800m west of Oculto. The focus of the report was the Oculto deposit. The grades of the Diablillos project range from 0.66 g/t Au to 1.65 g/t Au and 32 g/t Ag to 127 g/t Ag.
The Diablillos Project has been envisioned as a conventional open pit utilizing contractor-operated trucks and shovel operations. The proposed recovery process will be the crushing of mineralized material at a rate of 7,000 TPD. It will incorporate grinding, cyanide leaching with oxygen addition, counter current decantation (“CCD”) washing thickener and Merril-Crowe precious metal recovery from solution followed by on-site smelting to doré bars. The leached and washed solids are detoxified, thickened and pumped to a tailings storage facility (“TSF”) for permanent disposal.
SAXUM has coordinated a team of engineering professionals and Qualified Professionals (QP) for the purpose of the NI 43-101 PEA Report. Our engineering team was directly involved in the design of the project infrastructure and CapEx estimate. For this purpose, SAXUM followed AACE's practices and used our precise database, which is the result of SAXUM's extensive experience in similar mining projects in the Americas and, particularly, in Argentina.
Engineering Review for the Josemaria Copper Mine Project in San Juan, Argentina
Josemaria is a large-scale copper-gold-silver project. The project is wholly owned and operated by Lundin Mining’s Argentinian subsidiary Desarrollo de Prospectos Mineros S.A. Lundin Mining acquired the project with the April 2022 acquisition of Josemaria Resources Inc.
Josemaría is located in the San Juan Province of Argentina, approximately 9 km east of the Chile-Argentina border. The project topography is mountainous with broad, flat-bottomed valleys and moderately steep slopes ranging in elevation from approximately 4,000 to 4,900 m above sea level.
The project is to be developed as a large-scale open-pit mining operation. As currently envisaged, over 1 billion tons of ore will be mined at average diluted head grades of approximately 0.30% copper, 0.22 g/t gold and a strip ratio of 0.98 over a 19-year mine life.
Based on SAXUM’s know-how and expertise in civil/structural designs for large mining projects and particularly, of the standards and practices for these designs in the areas of high seismic risk in Argentina, Lundin has awarded SAXUM the review of the civil/structural design criteria, of the seismic parameters of the project, and of the designs of specific large facilities of this project.
The review service was performed in conformance with the industry best practices and the latest editions of the applicable Codes and Standards, and based on specific project site surveys for geotechnical, wind, snow, and seismic parameters assessment.
Conceptual and detailed engineering for Calcium aluminate cement manufacturing facility.
This confidential client is considering an opportunity to develop an available industrial site in Louisiana, USA to install a calcium aluminate cement manufacturing facility given the favorable location, logistics, utilities, raw materials, some existing buildings and current market conditions.
This greenfield project and the scope of work required by the client from a qualified and experienced engineering company such as SAXUM, will be developed in the following separate and staged phases:
1) Conceptual Phase, including a general civil/mechanical concept of the plant, a 3D model/rendering starting from the flow sheets and process engineering, an investigation into the potential use of existing buildings/structures on the site, a CapEx estimate +/- 30% including civil/structural / electrical/mechanical installations and initial soil/geotechnical investigations.
2) Design/Basic and Detailed Engineering will include the development of mechanical general arrangements, completion of geotechnical investigations and issuing of soil reports, technical data sheets of main and secondary equipment, civil and structural engineering designs including roads, railways, earth-movements, drainage, and foundations and structures for all buildings and equipment, site power requirements and power studies, technical specifications, selection of bidders for civil/structural constructions, electrical and mechanical installations and equipment suppliers and a CapEx update of +/- 12% accuracy.
3) Construction, Commissioning and Start-up Phase.
Owner Engineers for Feasibility Study Review, Lake Resources Lithium Project
Lake Resources Limited (Lake) is developing a feasibility report into the technical and economic viability of the Kachi Lithium Project, based in the Salar de Carachi-Pampa, part of the endorheic Carachi Pampa basin located in La Puna region of north-western Argentina. It is 22km west of the village of El Peñon in the province of Catamarca, and about 100km south of the lithium brine operation at Hombre Muerto, owned by Livent.
Lake controls 100% of the project, which comprises 69,000 hectares of mineral concessions over the salar through its wholly owned subsidiary Morena del Valle Minerals S.A. Lake drilled 3150 meters in 15 holes into the salar, down to 400 meters depth, resulting in the JORC resources of:
- 1 million tonnes LCE1 at 290 mg/L lithium (Indicated)
- 4 million tonnes LCE at 210 mg/L lithium (Inferred)
The plant design targets the production of 50,000 tpa of battery-grade lithium carbonate by direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology based on Ion Exchange (IX) from Lilac Technologies (Lilac).
For this project, SAXUM takes the role of the Owner’s Engineering Team. Allocating a team of multidisciplinary and experienced professionals who reviews, optimize and recommend all third-party designs, based on the SAXUM know-how of the lithium industry in South America, mainly Argentina.
SAXUM present at the Argentina Mining 2022 Convention
Argentina Mining is the premium international meeting of the mining sector in our country and it takes place biennially since 1996. Mining conferences have taken place in South America since 1995 and Argentina Mining 2020 was the 13th edition of this important event in our country. Previously, Bolivia Mining 95, 99 and 2001, and Ecuador 97 were held.
Argentina Mining is an excellent opportunity to establish business contacts; promote mining properties; offer products and services; become informed on mining regulations and policies, as well as to be updated on the evolution of mining projects and exploration plans, everything in a fully focused mining environment, alongside its key players.
SAXUM was present at the Argentina Mining 2022 Convention, where our Senior Legal Counsel, Carolina Ramallo, held a presentation entitled: "Mining Projects Certification by Province Professional Associations: Proceeding to Mitigate Risk and Contingency".
SAXUM’s Sr Lead Civil Engineer, Mr Juan Brito
Juan is a Civil Engineer from the University of Buenos Aires. He has been with SAXUM for more than ten years where he has held the positions of structural leader, construction field supervisor and engineering manager for different projects.
Juan has more than 20 years of experience as a project lead engineer and as an engineering manager for different industrial projects, including oil and gas, mining, cement and lithium. He has extensive experience leading engineering teams with a strong focus on quality and procedures, as well as following schedules and optimizing design solutions.
During his time at SAXUM, Juan has participated in various projects worldwide (Bolivia, Argentina, United States, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Canada, among others). He has assisted in SAXUM projects related to important clients such as Argos, Yamana Gold, Capitol Cements, Barrick Gold, Ultracem, Soboce, Hanaq, GCC, Lafarge Holcim, FLSmidth, among others.
His professional experience includes Designs and calculations of complex industrial structures such as silos, bunkers, mill buildings and mill foundations; the evaluation of the constructability of industrial structures developed in concrete and steel; the definition of design criteria and technical specifications for structural designs and constructions; the identification of structural pathologies and the design of effective repair procedures. His experience includes both green-field and revamping projects, reaching a comprehensive and complete background based on the particular requirements of the different projects.
His extensive experience as an on-site engineering lead provided him with in-depth knowledge and experience.
Among the challenging projects he has been involved in, one, in particular, occurred in the engineering services of a SAXUM owner that required an experienced structural engineer from our team with a focus on constructability assessment. Juan provided excellent service and contributed deeply to the success of the project.
SAXUM is very proud to have D. Juan Brito in its team of professionals.
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