I haven't used any assumed water price in my cost estimates. The costs of less than $4,000 per tonne of LCE is based of the PFS studies done by peers including LAC and JRL. Costs and flow sheets are on the websites of both LAC and JRL. The price of water is not significant in my view since AZL has dumped the slurry pipeline to Kingman option in favour of on-site ore beneficiation and concentrate road transport to Phoenix for sulphuric acid leach processing. Water will be needed for dust suppression and not much else. It's a trivial issue and irrelevant cost.
AZL will also be carbon neutral throughout the processing and be environmentally benign. They will purchase renewable power from the Glen Canyon Dam hydroelectric plant in north west Arizona. The plant is rated at 1320MW and supplies an average of 5,000GWh per year - more than enough to satisfy on-site power needs and power 400,000 homes in AZ. I also expect the mining fleet to be fully electric using trucks from Nicola and batteries from Kore Power in the yellow plant. Coupled with minimal sulphuric acid needs, the project will meet the the most stringent environmental expectations from the market.
AZL Price at posting:
9.3¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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