Lepidolite is able to be processed to battery grade lithium chemicals. They do this in China as well as in the future by Lepidico (also on asx). So no major red flag there. As I understand it Lepidolite isn't as good as Zinnwaldite in terms of processing ease. But Lepidolite is a much more common lithium containing mica.
Lepidolite would explain why the company doesn't have the mineralogy front and centre in their presentations. The ranking of lithium mineral desirability from my point of view is Spodumeme >> Zinnwaldite > Lepidolite.
The low grade nature of the ore, underground mining, and the lithium in the ore contained within lepidolite isn't ideal, but I suppose with enough Gov and EU support the project might be ok. I think in Australia or Africa this project would struggle to get to mining, but within the EU it might have a chance. The mining and processing costs will be key, and also Capex for the hydroxide processing facility whcih will be very high. They need the full mine to battery grade hydroxide process in place from day 1 to make this work. Other miners of Spodumeme plan to typically sell SC6 for a few years to build cash flow and then use that cash flow to build hydroxide facilities. Unfortunately INF can't do this. Which means much higher up front Capex. Hopefully the EU or Spanish Gov help them out a lot
I'll watch from the sidelines a bit longer
My Opinion only - DYOR
INF Price at posting:
16.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
