Plymouth Minerals (ASX:PLH) has released its maiden resource estimate on the San Jose Lithium-Tin project in Spain at the end of May. The total resource currently stands at 92.3 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.6% Li2O and 0.02% tin but what’s perhaps more exciting, is the higher grade zone of 16.5 million tonnes at 0.9% Li2O and 0.04% tin. This is just a first pass as the deposit remains open along strike and at depth and Plymouth thinks it should be possible to double the currently known resource estimate.
Based on the Li2O values, resulting in a Li-value of 0.27% for the entire deposit (in the ‘lower grade’ overall resource), Plymouth would need to process approximately 70 tonnes of rock to end up with 1 tonne of LithiumCarbonate (18.8% Li), which means the deposit currently contains approximately 1.3 million tonnes of LCE. The project also contains almost 20,000 tonnes of tin which currently has an in situ value of $375M. Whilst the company is proud with its 97% recovery rate for its lithium using sulphate roast techniques, we were unable to find the anticipated recovery rate for the tin which is a pity, as tin could become a very valuable by-product in the next few years as there’s virtually no new supply expect to come online.
Plymouth doesn’t want to waste any time and is aiming to submit a mining license application early in the fourth quarter whilst a scoping study could also be expected before the end of this year.
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