Positive Preliminary Economic Assessment For Tonopah Lithium Claims


VANCOUVER - American Lithium Corp. reported on the maiden Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the Tonopah Lithium Claims (TLC) project located in the Esmerelda lithium district northwest of Tonopah, Nevada. This independent PEA demonstrates that the TLC project has the potential to become a substantial, long-life producer of low-cost lithium carbonate (“LCE” or “Li2CO3”) with the potential to produce either battery grade LCE or lithium hydroxide (“LiOH”). The PEA base case envisions an initial 4.4 Million tonnes per annum (“Mtpa”) processing throughput expanding to 8.8Mtpa. The PEA alternative case is identical, but with added production of high purity magnesium sulfate as a by-product over life of operations.

Simon Clarke, CEO, said, “We are extremely pleased to announce a very robust maiden PEA for TLC. Our team has worked hard and spent considerable time getting an in-depth understanding of TLC mineralization and the best way to recover high purity lithium utilizing conventional processing methods with the latest techniques and best in class plant and equipment. A significant portion of the processing work has been done to pre-feasibility levels as we believe this will help us move quickly through the next phases of development. At 99.4% LCE purity, TLC offers the capability to produce either battery grade lithium carbonate or hydroxide with minimal additional refining.

In this PEA, we showcase a long mine-life utilizing only the highest-grade sections of the deposit, with the potential for additional production ramp-up and mine life utilizing our mid-grade and lower grade sections. Not only are the economics very strong for high purity lithium production, but TLC also has the potential to produce high purity magnesium sulfates as by-products for agriculture and other end uses. As shown in the PEA, even assuming conservative pricing, these by-products can add significant economic value. At the same time, we have focused our work on ensuring we continue to minimize environmental impacts and water usage in the mining, processing and production of lithium from TLC.”