@Nccc Thanks... carrying over to this thread. It does seem like...

@Nccc Thanks... carrying over to this thread.

It does seem like similar processing methods can be applied... even more simply with petalite.

The concern is that petalite contains a lot less lithium. One way to look at this is that AVL plan to produce about 15kt of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) from 1mt of ore per annum.

Whereas as PLS (for want of a better example) plan to produce about 45kt of LCE from 2mt or ore per annum.

Basically, 1mt of spodumene produces about 22.5kt of LCE where as 1mt of petalite produces about 15kt of LCE (a 50% extra yield for spodumene).

The question would be - petalite is cheaper to process LCE from but would the cost reduction here be enough to offset the extra 50% in mining costs to get the extra amount of raw material needed from the ground. It would also mean needing a 3mt production plant compared to the CAPEX required for a 2mt plant.

Anyway, a scoping study or preferably a PFS would be the best way to actually see petalite project economics. Besides for the Zimbabweans at this stage, it seems to only really be AVL that information can drawn from.

Anyway, I will try calling DF again.... but don't hold my breath on getting through to him.