For the benefit of the guys who haven't been around along, I will shed some light on a couple of concerns you have raised.
It is not by any means exhaustive, but on the eve of production, it is a good basic overview, in understanding how the situation at NAL has evolved.
1) Achieving 6% spodumene and 226kt+ at NAL
NAL's ore body, is certainly not of world beating grades or consistencies, but it is good.
Authier's is consistently better.
On the face of it anyway.
It is however, better than most realise. That is why I always chuckle when I hear people's dismissive comments about the quality of NAL's ore.
Historically, from 2012 technical report GM67907
TECHNICAL REPORT, QUEBEC LITHIUM PROPERTY
Many of the documents relating to production and concentration of spodumene ore werelost or destroyed after the mine was closed in the 1960s. However, historic records showthat the crushing and grinding plant had sufficient capacity to handle approximately 900t ofore per day with production of approximately 169 tons of spodumene concentrate at anaverage grade of approximately 5.78% Li20. The historic processing method is described inthe SNC (1974) and Karpoff (1993) reports, and summarized in the report above.So, in the stone age, they were able to produce spodumene 5.78%, from 900tpd!
(Remember, we are targeting 226 SC6 from 3800tpd)
How???
Then, the updated resource estimate. December 2011
So 13.76 MT at 1.21% from 64 dykes.
I will explain why the 1,21% is important later.
For reference, Our PFS resource-
Now, we have grown the resource to 29.2MT, at 0.96%, which includes the total ore body. What I mean by the TOTAL ore body, which is in excess of 64 dykes, or veins of pegmatite, means to the edge, where it means the surrounding geography, and where its impurities are greatest.
For interest, What NAL looked like....
And now
Our brownfield site-
The original plant was designed for 168-180kt concentrate, to feed the carbonate plant , which was scheduled to deliver 20kt/pa.LiCO.
While the plant was in operation, it was able to achieve grades between 5-6% spodumene. And it did produce sample quantities of LiCO!
Courtesy of Split's field trip to NAL-
When they say the carbonate plant is 50% complete, they do not mean there is only 50% of infrastructure in place. This is a basic misconception.
There is actually 100% of infrastructure in place, but not all of it is at a commercial producing capacity.
Only 50% of it is, like the kiln and have you seen the exhaust??? Wow.....
Once upgraded, the sub standard infrastructure will be replaced to match the rest of the plant.
If HATCH, who have a great current and historically understanding of this facility execute this well, there is no reason the carbonate plant cannot be completed in 12-18 months for around 300 million.
And there is no better organisation than HATCH to undertake this PFS, expected completion by April/May.
The metrics will be undeniable...
Green light.....FEED...long lead items....installation.....circa Q1-Q2 2025 testing and shakedown...
Back to the spodumene-
Now, Enter SYAQ, with the availability to blend ore fro Authier and in time, Tansim. (And now...Jourdan...)
So, problem solved....as far as the PFS was concerned they would blend Authier and NAL ore at 33%Authier, 67%NAL, to achieve a consistent 6%, as well as greatly improve life of mine.
Remember, Authier ore, is currently on hold.
It is actually approved and FULLY permitted to under 3000tpd ore mining, which does not require the BAPE process by Canadian law. However, we have voluntarily chosen to complete BAPE.
Why?
2 reasons-
1-Ensure we are environmentally compliant to the highest order, beyond reproach...and I really do think this was an assurance we have made to the locals, to keep them on side, and prove we are serious about environmentals.
I get it. have you seen and taken in the pristine environment where this is happening?
It is incredible..absolutely stunning, and in this day and age, there is no reason we cannot minimise the impact to an acceptable level.
(SYA have also realised that Authier ore is not required in the short term to reach 6% spod. I will get to that later.)
2- It will remove the 3000tpd restrictions, if we choose to ramp up Authier in the future. Remember, Authier alone, was Sayona's flagship, world class resource before NAL. Studies and environmentals pretty much complete to 2900tpd.
Now when you put Jourdan in the mix, where Brett has mentioned an additional concentrator, we then now have the ability to crank around 500, 000 tonnes SC6 from the Abitibi hub.....250 as we know it at NAL, and 250 from the new SYAQ/Jourdan concentrator, with ore from NAL, Authier, Valee and Tansim.....
Now bring the carbonate plant into the mix.
If they get this right, and no doubt HATCH will, it will run at max capacity.
Forget about 23k....it may even be designed to handle 50k.
If you are going to rebuild and improve it, why not? That is exactly what they did with the concentration plant, so the runs are definitely on the board for this methodology.
The jury is still out here though, as we may see further refining capacity developed off site at Becancour...to possibly feed the GM/Posco CAM plant....we are still a long way off here.
Lets see what the NAL carbonate PFS indicates, and we can play with these theories at a later stage.
However, I am fairly sure the carbonate plant will produce at least 30k.
Again, back to the spod (sorry, I keep going off track to the carbonate)
This then complicated things further, with the brownfield sites waste rock and tailings facilities.
They were designed and approved to cater for 3800tpd, and and a mine life in the teens not 25+years. The tailings dam had already had a previous breach, which was successfully contained and improved, but increased throughput and LOM, would push the existing facilities beyond what they were designed for.
So, although we have comms form the company to state '
now fully permitted', I have not seen a statement specifically to clarify 4200tpd.
I believe this will only happen when our improved dry processing and tailings facility and megadome are built and approved. In the meantime, we can operate at 3800tpd and use the existing wet tailings facilities and overflow, until they are full, which is some years away.
So how do we achieve 226kt+?
Improve the concentration circuit. Examine real world data from when the plant was operating.
Fix the bottlenecks, improve the impurity removal, upgrade the crushing circuit. With improved equipment, greater capacity, greater reliability and state of the art machinery.
Our recovery rates with these improvements have jumped from
65.8% to nearly 80%!So even at 3800tpd, we can get to 226+ output....let alone when we appproved to 4200tpd......this is where we will see a jump to beyond 226.
Preliminary figures for 4200tpd then puts our output to around
250,000 tonnes/pa.
Lets just get to steady state nameplate first, then get the 4200 approved and then we can crank the plant up and see how we go.
PURITY
Now, why is that historical 1.21% important I mentioned earlier?
Because in the middle of the ore bodies, at their purest, NAL has great grades!
The original, and long term plan was and is to use Authier ore, with ROM stockpile plan, which was mentioned in the PFS.
However, by processing ore taken from the centre of the dyke, of which we have at least 64, we can blend our own NAL ore. Brett has mentioned this.....NAL's own ROM stockpile management system.
So by using this NAL ROM stockpile plan, they will be able to blend higher grade, central body ore, with the less pure ore from the edge of the pegmatite. And we have grades of 1.2% to play with.
We even have historical underground workings at NAL, which as mentioned in the PFS, are being evaluated for possible future ore production. I mention this because there is a big chance, the grades are higher at depth.
Another factor to watch out for is the main pit floor. Guy lalliberte has previously mentioned this is an area of interest, which may be investigated in the future.
Does this now enlighten you why the Fournier boys have been at it since October 2022???
IT'S NOT JUST TO GET AHEAD WITH STOCKPILING THE QUANTITY OF ORE, IT'S TO HAVE THE ORE GRADED AND SORTED TO ACHIEVE SC6 FROM THE START OF PRODUCTION.
Ore stockpile blending in itself is common and not unheard off.
However, this is NOT ideal.
It is more labour intensive and if not done correctly, can begin to affect the consistency of the final product coming out of the concentrator. It also impacts the life of the mine, the life of NAL.
So, it cannot be done indefinitely without consequences, but for a finite period, say until we get Authier up and running, which is scheduled for mid year, its not a problem. I believe mentioned this as 'contingency plans'.
I am not 100% confident we will see Authier ore by then, most probably the BAPE will take us to late in 2023, but you never know. From all accounts, we have a great relationship with the indigenous community, and if the trust has been established, concerns are satisfied and the jobs keep flowing, it may still come to fruition mid year....but its not critical for NAL to produce SC6 in the short term...
Anyway, this was supposed to be a quick overview, and as usual, the grey matter took over and starting spilling its guts again. I am going for a lie down now.
And for the people newer to Sayona, there is soooooo much info on these threads.
Head to Split's 'NAL impresssions', my 'True Value of Sayona' threads, and basically everything SB's written, and you'll get the bigger picture
Happy Sunday, and good luck everyone.
(20min delay)