Published: 2 hours ago

AIM-listed Premier African Minerals says it is encouraged by progress at its Zulu Lithium Mine in western Zimbabwe, with the second phase of plant test runs at its lithium and tantalum project showing promising results.

In a statement, the company expressed satisfaction with recent developments and credited input from its newly appointed managing director, Graham Hill, as well as support from a senior original equipment manufacturer (OEM) team.

"We continue to deal with optimisation and commissioning issues as would normally be expected and continue to see promising results with each step forward," the company said. "The knowledge and information being accumulated, along with assistance from our OEM team and the new MD, is expected to support the process underway at present."

The test run is designed to ensure the plant meets required spodumene specifications. Premier anticipates the plant will soon reach a steady-state operation, targeting an availability of 22 days per month—its original projection for meeting production targets.

Within the next week, Premier expects to decide whether to proceed with purchasing a secondary spodumene float section. Meanwhile, work is progressing on two outstanding plant issues: replacing the original OEM-supplied sorters, which have been deemed unfit for purpose, and completing the tantalum recovery circuit. The company noted interest from several parties in purchasing tantalum and potentially assisting with the cost of completing the circuit.

Premier has faced challenges keeping the spodumene production plant running optimally since commissioning it about two years ago. These operational difficulties caused the company to miss its March 2023 deadline for delivering the first shipment of spodumene to Chinese offtaker Canmax Technologies.

Three months later, Premier declared force majeure, but Canmax disputed the claim and demanded repayment of the US$35 million it had advanced to finance the processing plant.
- NewZimbabwe

You might also want to read this

• UK resets ties with Zimbabwe in push for critical minerals
• Namib Minerals rings Nasdaq closing bell with Zim diplomats
• Prospectors slam Zimbabwe's 'secretive' Mines and Minerals Bill
• Premier secures funding for Zulu Lithium Project
• EU urges Zimbabwe firms to come up with bankable projects
• Premier pins Zulu project rescue plan on Glencore
• Zimbabwe's mineral revenues decline despite volume surge
• Premier terminates Zimbabwe acquisition
• Premier converts $300k director's loan