The company outlined the next steps for its
lithium brine operation.
Cypress
Development Corp. (CYP:TSX.V; CYDVF:OTCQB; C1Z1:FSE) filed an NI 43-101
compliant preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Nevada-based Clayton
Valley lithium project, which CEO Bill Willoughby called "a significant
milestone," in a news release. The project advanced from the initial drill
hole through the PEA stage in fewer than two years.
The company had announced the results for the PEA on September 6. As a
reminder, the PEA for Clayton Valley outlined a 32.7% internal rate of
return, a $1.45 billion net present value 8% and a 2.7-year payback period.
It projected the mine would produce 15,000 tons per day of lithium carbonate
for 40 years and initial capital costs would be about $482 million over two
years.
The report, prepared by Global Resource Engineering (GRE) in Denver,
Colo., is available at SEDAR and on Cypress Development's website.
According to Cypress, next for Clayton Valley is a prefeasibility study,
which will include additional infill drilling and various tests and
studies—metallurgical, geophysical, hydrological and geotechnical—all aimed
at fleshing out Clayton Valley's economic assumptions.
"Our next steps have the potential to unlock shareholder value as we
continue with infill drilling, further metallurgical studies, and a
prefeasibility study to provide more detailed information related to the
project’s economic assumptions," Willoughby added.
The goals of metallurgical testing, already underway, are to define ideal
leach conditions, configure the processing plant and "demonstrate
production of high purity lithium carbonate suitable for battery usage,"
the company stated.
With infill drilling, scheduled to start in one to two months, Cypress
aims to upgrade resource categories and optimize the mine production
schedule.
In the PEA, GRE recommended additional efforts. They include testing to
determine the potential to mine, as byproducts, rare earth elements, most
notably those identified during the PEA, scandium, neodymium and dysprosium.
GRE also suggested Cypress evaluate different processing methods, such as
membranes and ion exchange resins, and conduct "trade‐off studies related to
capital and saleable electrical generation for the acid plant," noted
the news release.
The prefeasibility study, whose estimated budget is about $800,000, is
expected to be finished in Q1/19.
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