ShareJunction - Member Posts

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When restriction are in placed by brokerage firms,it strikes fears and panlcs on small retailers or investors and who gains... big funds and maybe bokerage firms mops up at cheap and sell high when the tide changes.Especially company which are fundamentally sound.

risktaker ( Date: 30-Mar-2017 12:30) Posted:

Below Taken from investnote just sharing

1. Waiting for the offtake agreement in Apr/May

AMAL aim to produce 129,000 coarse material in the first year, with additional 59,000 of fine material the following year. This is according to the spectacularly better-than-expected large-scale metallurgical test work," says Mr Pramoko.

Galaxy Resources secured offtake agreement of USD950mt for spodumene concentrate. Galaxy lithium grade is 5%+ whilst AMAL is 6%+ premium grade. 129000x950=USD122.55m, not including the main Tantalum product and 59000 tons of fine product and other minerals. At present price, it is a DISCOUNT to the potential of AMAL.

Do the math . DYODD cheers:)

2. Many advance countries are into various scheme involving Lithium, i.e. Electric Vehicle, Renewable Energy. Energy Storage is set to boom (see para 8)

3. China is buying mines with Lithium in South America. When China get involves, their appetite is huge. They are either in partnership or holding a substantial share in some Australia miners. They are reaching into South America quietly for more lithium. The race is on for more Lithium. The downside is that Argentina will deregulate and encourage more Lithium mining and to expect big supply from them by 2020 onwards. Nevertheless by the time Argentina come on stream the demand in the most advance countries in the world will outstrip their supply. Goldman Sachs predicted that Lithium demand will increase 3 times by 2020.
Korean steel-maker Posco started commercial production of lithium carbonate in Gwangyang last week, with a 2,500tpy capacity plant aiming to supply domestic battery material manufacturers, including Posco&rsquo s subsidiary Posco ESM. PosLX, as the plant is known, uses a proprietary extraction technology developed by Posco. Feedstock for PosLX is lithium phosphate

4. Tencent (China) just bought 5% of Telsa. Tesla is into EV, Energy Storage and ' Gigafactory" (USD$5b) producing Lithium ion batteries for various usage. China is wining the race with Tesla on ' Gigafactory' , they had more. Another Gigafactory (USD$1b) is planned at Nevada by other investors. AES Corp and Altagas Ltd are the two other companies creating battery plant in California. Altagas plant was activated in Jan 27th this year. AES Corp has another battery in Arizona scheduled to go on line within the next several months as well as a project internationally in India. Ex Tesla executives are planning for more In Europe. One future production site will need an investment of USD$4.225 over a period of six year. NorthVolt (Sweden) plans construction in 2H2018 and production by end 2020. Tesla and China are in a scramble to get more Lithium supplies for their factories.

5. 30 Cities in America wants green vehicle for their public services and talking to car markets. They are (Democrats of course) into climate protection and likely some form of legislation to reduce the number of diesel fuel vehicle. Climate change is real. Electric car sales grew at an annualized rate of 60% last year. Moreover, Tesla predicts that its sales will grow by the same number through 2020.

6. Galaxy and other Aussies lithium miner actually hit 1000% in July 2016 (for last year) but had retraced back. I read this from MOTLEY FOOL AU. AMAL when compared to them is a laggard. Amal is just starting.

7. China slated to spend USD$360 billions on Renewable Energy And Clean Energy. Europe Renewable Energy Directive will also spurred more demands of EV.

8. Energy Storage is set to boom in 2017. The problems with today' s power grid isn' t the lack of electricity but rather the lack of it at certain times. The United States has progressively moved towards adding renewable energy to the grid but solar and wind power are rather intermittent. Worst of all, some of these power is completed wasted because their grid is unable to store it properly. Tesla and other companies has begun to solve this pressing issue.

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For me, I wait for their resource estimate report and off- take contract signed.I am sure it shares will go ballistic when all the cards are in place.just as I am sure the sun will rise from the East and sets in the West.DYODD.

gravity8888 ( Date: 31-Jul-2014 10:24) Posted:

Cant rise but fall tdy :(

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From the report on page 13 ...

2017 Milestone chart:

Bald Hill Project Commissioning Timeline
Q1. Resource
Q1 Completion of metallurgical test work with optimised flow sheet
Q1. Conditional offtake agreement
Q1. Feasibility study
Q1. Place orders for long lead items
Q2. Place orders for other capital requirements
Q1. EPC process plant contract award

Q2. Construction commence
Q4. Commissioning commence

We should get the announcement by Mar 17.

risktaker ( Date: 29-Mar-2017 21:10) Posted:

Something interesting from Today Tawana Annual Full Year Statutory Accounts http://spcagent.io/taw/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/03/document-5-1.pdf

Feasibility Study

A conceptual engineering study at the Bald Hill Mine highlighted a potentially highly profitable operation, rapid payback and a low capital cost by retrofitting a spodumene circuit.

Tawana has commenced a Feasibility Study for the Bald Hill Lithium and Tantalum Mine which will include capital costs to an accuracy of +/- 15% and operating costs to an accuracy of +/-25%.

The study, which is expected to be completed by the end of March 2017 is being conducted by lithium plant engineering company Primero Group who was the project manager for the final stages of construction, commissioning and ramp-up of Galaxy Resource Limited&rsquo s Mt Cattlin Lithium Project.

Detailed Design Tawana has received a proposal and a scope of work including deliverables from Primero which should allow a seamless flow on from the Study to detailed design. This is important to allow long lead items to be procured during the early stages of detailed design to meet construction completion in late October 2017.

Marketing and Off-Take Tawana and AMAL have been approached by several significant entities within the lithium supply chain with strong demand to obtain near-term spodumene concentrate and received written proposals. There appears to be a significant shortage of uncommitted spodumene in 2017-2018 to feed new Chinese convertors, which thereby places Tawana in an enviable position.

The most interesting part is the Significant shortage of uncommitted Spodumene in 2017 to 2018.... Super Huat

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Restrictions? Monday,I bought 100 lots @.345 without restriction even I don't have a single cent deposited with LIM&Tan.

tankookoo ( Date: 29-Mar-2017 19:25) Posted:

Just checked restriction by UOB and Lim& Tan. Peoms no restriction.

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Snapshot of the financial report from TAWANA NL
That mentioned AMAL BALD HILL...
"Exploration
A total of 310 exploration, resource, metallurgical and sterilisation drill holes were completed totaling 28,080m RC and 1,114.3m of core up to 20 February 2017. Drilling has intercepted significant spodumene mineralisation south of the largest pit (South Pit) within pegmatites that are interpreted as those previously mined and newly discovered larger pegmatite/s located in the footwall (Refer ASX Announcement dated 17 November 2016 for full details).
In addition, numerous high grade lithium and tantalum intercepts were received (Refer ASX Announcement dated 3 March 2017 for full details). Best results include:
- 21m at 1.44% Li2O and 319ppm Ta2O5 from 61m in LRC0146
- 20m at 1.38% Li2O from 59m in LRC0148
- 6m at 1.11% Li2O from 71m and 16m at 1.44% Li2O from 99m in LRC209
- 12m at 2.38% Li2O from 136m in LRC077 and
- 12m at 2.09% Li2O from 54m in LRC0257.
Drilling clearly defined near-surface spodumene pegmatites located 800m from the process plant site and within the current fully permitted pit limit. Shallow intercepts included:
- 13m at 1.74% Li2O and 318ppm Ta2O5 from 19m in LRC0253
- 7m at 1.21% Li2O and 683ppm Ta2O5 from 25m in LRC135
- 11m at 1.62% Li2O from 29m including 8m at 2.05% Li2O in LRC0265 and
- 11m at 1.02% Li2O and 247ppm Ta2O5 from 14m in LRC0132...
Feasibility Study
A conceptual engineering study at the Bald Hill Mine highlighted a potentially highly profitable operation, rapid payback and a low capital cost by retrofitting a spodumene circuit.
Tawana has commenced a Feasibility Study for the Bald Hill Lithium and Tantalum Mine which will include capital costs to an accuracy of +/- 15% and operating costs to an accuracy of +/-25%.
The study, which is expected to be completed by the end of March 2017 is being conducted by lithium plant engineering company Primero Group who was the project manager for the final stages of construction, commissioning and ramp-up of Galaxy Resource Limited?s Mt Cattlin Lithium Project.
Detailed Design
Tawana has received a proposal and a scope of work including deliverables from Primero which should allow a seamless flow on from the Study to detailed design. This is important to allow long lead items to be procured during the early stages of detailed design to meet construction completion in late October 2017.
Marketing and Off-Take
Tawana and AMAL have been approached by several significant entities within the lithium supply chain with strong demand to obtain near-term spodumene concentrate and received written proposals. There appears to be a significant shortage of uncommitted spodumene in 2017-2018 to feed new Chinese convertors, which thereby places Tawana in an enviable position...

stlimst ( Date: 28-Mar-2017 23:55) Posted:

I believe for AMA, the cost of production could be considerably lower because of the sunk cost in mining tantaum. They have, by some good fortune, achieved synergy in the mineral mining process - both minerals from the same ore.

I will wait for the result next month on the lithium reserves in their mines (initial metallurgical tests announced recently have yielded very good results). They are also negotiating and finalising off-loader agreement with interested parties and that will confirm the great potential of AMA. Production by Oct and commercial sales by year end. I can' t even put an estimated figure to AMA' s share price by then!!

Happy Investing.

Atom99 ( Date: 28-Mar-2017 23:00) Posted:

Hi Focusy

Another Lithium miner -http://www.pilbaraminerals.com.au/presentations reported their cost of production is approximately US$ 200/tonne.

As I have mentioned in my post these are assumption numbers including selling price of lithium concentrate. If you go thru the other miners reports on ASX,every mining operator production cost and selling prices may vary widely.Just have to wait for AMAL announcement.Think I missed anything just add your comments.Thank You.

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Here are some of the websites information regarding Lithium. Hope it provide you with informed information of the potential and risk in investing in Lithium mining company.

IOYOR and DOYDD.

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/?s=Lithium+

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/future-battery-technology/

http://www.nanalyze.com/2017/03/new-lithium-battery-technology-startups/

http://www.galaxyresources.com.au/

http://www.pilbaraminerals.com.au/

http://www.neometals.com.au/

https://lithium-au.com/

http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/lithium-and-cobalt-wheres-it-all-coming-from/5803

http://kidmanresources.com.au/

Atom99 ( Date: 16-Mar-2017 23:52) Posted:

Here are some of the websites information regarding Lithium. Hope it provide you with informed information of the potential and risk in investing in Lithium mining company.

IOYOR and DOYDD.

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/?s=Lithium+

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/future-battery-technology/

http://www.nanalyze.com/2017/03/new-lithium-battery-technology-startups/

http://www.galaxyresources.com.au/

http://www.pilbaraminerals.com.au/

http://www.neometals.com.au/

https://lithium-au.com/

stlimst ( Date: 16-Mar-2017 22:46) Posted:

Bro Atom99 has given us quite a detailed account of the potential of AMA.

If you believe in Lithium, if you believe in Pramoko' s business model, then INVEST - meaning hold. The risk reward is well worth it.

If you trade or contra and get caught in wrong timing, you could end up losing even with a solid, spectacular stock like this.

Happy Investing

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Hi Focusy

Another Lithium miner -http://www.pilbaraminerals.com.au/presentations reported their cost of production is approximately US$ 200/tonne.

As I have mentioned in my post these are assumption numbers including selling price of lithium concentrate. If you go thru the other miners reports on ASX,every mining operator production cost and selling prices may vary widely.Just have to wait for AMAL announcement.Think I missed anything just add your comments.Thank You.

focusy ( Date: 28-Mar-2017 10:21) Posted:

Atom99, thanks for yr posts, which I think are insightful and knowledgable. In one of them, you said: " This equates to about 129,000tpa of high grade coarse concentrate grading +6.4% Li2O at 1mtpa of feed. At 129 ktpa.let says,selling price per tonne is US$800.=US$ 103.2M per year of revenue.Minus all in operation cost of US$150 per tonne US$19.35M. Profit per year = US$83.85M."

May I know how you estimate the op cost to be US$150 per tonne only? I read that Galaxy' s figure is about US$400.

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Last Oct/Nov 16,there is a talk about AMAL meeting up with Temasek. Is Temasek going to invest in AMAL now with so much positive news coming out of it?

chiachiawee ( Date: 28-Mar-2017 13:23) Posted:

When is the 0.30. Take profit please bros and sis. let xiao di enter :)

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Resource estimate report coming soon,in early April.Hopefully together with off-taker announcement contract.In my opinion,this is a gem... opportunity don't always come often.
IOYOR AND DYODD.

timothylim890 ( Date: 28-Mar-2017 09:38) Posted:

One thing to note, last Friday closed at 31, Monday gapped up to 325. Gap may fill today, but who knows? Let' s see.

choong ( Date: 28-Mar-2017 09:35) Posted:

Tempted to go in but the movement is so drastic last 30 mins.

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AMAL MC,in my opinion should be around 200M to 400M$

amandayoung ( Date: 27-Mar-2017 14:50) Posted:

Everyday you shouting too high correction ...correction,
So now CORRECTION LOOKING FOR YOU LOR ...ON YOUR STOCK

risktaker ( Date: 27-Mar-2017 14:01) Posted:

thats why some people donno about valuation hehe 50c is still 250million only... and with low estimated profit of 40million... PE only 6

It is way too cheap now stock is just climbing back to fair value people still dont understand...

At least some of you like turtle on the same page with me :)

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There is a report in today ST business page on Alliance Mineral Asset Ltd.

choong ( Date: 27-Mar-2017 10:23) Posted:

Going to cruise to 40 this week. Huat ah!!!

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Article: ALLIANCE MINERAL ASSETS: " Excellent" test results, up next is off-take agreement

" We have received many offers. We want to choose the off-take party very carefully. Financing for facility construction and prepayment for supply are what we will require, so there' s skin in the game, and both seller and buyer will work closely together."
-- AMAL' s CEO, Tjandra Pramoko

Any agreement is expected to be premised on AMAL' s long-stated target of commissioning its facilities in October this year, which implies that the first shipment of lithium will be around year-end.

We aim to produce 129,000 coarse material for the first year, with additional 59,000 of fines material the following year. This is according to the spectacularly better-than-expected large-scale metallurgical test work," says Mr Pramoko.

A report in https://www.nextinsight.net/story-archive-mainmenu-60/939-2017/11383-alliance-mineral-assets-excellent-test-results-next-is-off-take-agreement

Atom99 ( Date: 17-Mar-2017 14:14) Posted:

AMAL is an exploration company and its core value is in the exploration assets that it holds.That is why we are all waiting for the announcement of the resource/reserve estimate of Lithium early April.

eric998 ( Date: 17-Mar-2017 11:52) Posted:

Anyone analyse how does the new positive catalyst impact on the company' s value? Care to share?

its NAV in last financial report is AU$0.033 which is about 3 cents.. DYODD

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AMAL is an exploration company and its core value is in the exploration assets that it holds.That is why we are all waiting for the announcement of the resource/reserve estimate of Lithium early April.

eric998 ( Date: 17-Mar-2017 11:52) Posted:

Anyone analyse how does the new positive catalyst impact on the company' s value? Care to share?

its NAV in last financial report is AU$0.033 which is about 3 cents.. DYODD

Atom99 ( Date: 16-Mar-2017 17:13) Posted:

Superb run up today.AMAL keep up the good work. Now we wait for the Lithium resource/reserve estimate and offtake contract signed,hopefully in early April.Looks like everything is nicely in place.And flawless execution of production operation is key come last qtr 2017.
IOYOR AND DOYDD.Huat to all who are vested in AMAL..

x 0

Here are some of the websites information regarding Lithium. Hope it provide you with informed information of the potential and risk in investing in Lithium mining company.

IOYOR and DOYDD.

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/?s=Lithium+

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/future-battery-technology/

http://www.nanalyze.com/2017/03/new-lithium-battery-technology-startups/

http://www.galaxyresources.com.au/

http://www.pilbaraminerals.com.au/

http://www.neometals.com.au/

https://lithium-au.com/

stlimst ( Date: 16-Mar-2017 22:46) Posted:

Bro Atom99 has given us quite a detailed account of the potential of AMA.

If you believe in Lithium, if you believe in Pramoko' s business model, then INVEST - meaning hold. The risk reward is well worth it.

If you trade or contra and get caught in wrong timing, you could end up losing even with a solid, spectacular stock like this.

Happy Investing

Atom99 ( Date: 16-Mar-2017 17:13) Posted:

Superb run up today.AMAL keep up the good work. Now we wait for the Lithium resource/reserve estimate and offtake contract signed,hopefully in early April.Looks like everything is nicely in place.And flawless execution of production operation is key come last qtr 2017.
IOYOR AND DOYDD.Huat to all who are vested in AMAL..

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Gold price just shot up to US$27 dollars to US$1227.!

destinykraze ( Date: 10-Mar-2017 17:01) Posted:

just hold if you are in for the long term. gold price will fall in the short term, thus, this counter would be affected adversely.

and this company is also hit by the strengthening of USD and falling MYR, thus affecting its earnings.

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Superb run up today.AMAL keep up the good work. Now we wait for the Lithium resource/reserve estimate and offtake contract signed,hopefully in early April.Looks like everything is nicely in place.And flawless execution of production operation is key come last qtr 2017.
IOYOR AND DOYDD.Huat to all who are vested in AMAL...

Atom99 ( Date: 16-Mar-2017 10:26) Posted:

Just have a feel what the pricing are ...
Galaxy Resource
LITHIUM CONCENTRATE PRICING CONFIRMED FOR CY2017
Binding agreements signed with current Chinese customers for CY2017
▪ 120,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate sold for 2017 delivery at US$905/t (FOB Esperance) for 6% Li2O
▪ Following initial production from Mt Cattlin which yielded higher than anticipated grades after flow sheet redesign, Galaxy is now confident of producing an improved 6% grade lithium concentrate product
▪ Galaxy is currently discussing more longer term arrangements with its existing customers beyond 2017, and will also look at options to diversify its customer base
▪ Offtake arrangements to settle through partner Mitsubishi Corporation
▪ Mining operations at Mt Cattlin commenced on 12 December 2016

DOYDD

syajun1981 ( Date: 16-Mar-2017 10:13) Posted:

The revenue will share half with tawana.

x 0

Just have a feel what the pricing are ...
Galaxy Resource
LITHIUM CONCENTRATE PRICING CONFIRMED FOR CY2017
Binding agreements signed with current Chinese customers for CY2017
▪ 120,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate sold for 2017 delivery at US$905/t (FOB Esperance) for 6% Li2O
▪ Following initial production from Mt Cattlin which yielded higher than anticipated grades after flow sheet redesign, Galaxy is now confident of producing an improved 6% grade lithium concentrate product
▪ Galaxy is currently discussing more longer term arrangements with its existing customers beyond 2017, and will also look at options to diversify its customer base
▪ Offtake arrangements to settle through partner Mitsubishi Corporation
▪ Mining operations at Mt Cattlin commenced on 12 December 2016

DOYDD

syajun1981 ( Date: 16-Mar-2017 10:13) Posted:

The revenue will share half with tawana.

risktaker ( Date: 16-Mar-2017 10:11) Posted:

if pure profit is 80million USD convert into SGD = 108 million pure profit WOW ( USD Rate to SGD = 1.35)

Market Cap 480m share x 0.22 = 105 million

If Trade at 50 cents its PE is still less than 3 LOL OMG

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My pleasure. Just to share information and hopefully everyone grow your money and retire early if you can. DYODD.

You can read the full announcement on SGX.

stlimst ( Date: 16-Mar-2017 00:10) Posted:

Thanks Atom99.

Someone has a target price of > $0.80 for Alliance by year end - this is not so unthinkable afterall.

Happy Investing

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This equates to about 129,000tpa of high grade coarse concentrate grading +6.4% Li2O at 1mtpa of feed.

At 129 ktpa.let says,selling price per tonne is US$800.=US$ 103.2M per year of revenue.Minus all in operation cost of US$150 per tonne US$19.35M

Profit per year = US$83.85M

Atom99 ( Date: 15-Mar-2017 23:55) Posted:

Tawana Resources NL (?Tawana? or the ?Company?) and Alliance Mineral Assets Limited (SGX: AMAL) are pleased to announce that larger scale metallurgical test work has delivered exceptional results which will allow for a simple, low-capital, low-risk startup operation and a short construction period for the planned commissioning at the Bald Hill Lithium and Tantalum Mine in October 2017.
Highlights
? Larger scale metallurgical test work completed.
? Two key findings of Bald Hill mineralisation are:
? The ability to produce grades well in excess of 6% Li2O at good mass yields and acceptably low iron content.
? The ability to reject 60-70% of the feed mass after a first pass Dense Media Separation (DMS), thus reducing processing costs appreciably.
? After removal of -1mm fines and mica, 78% of feed to the plant, containing 83% of the lithium, is available for low-cost gravity DMS processing.
? Recovery to immediately marketable concentrates from the DMS is 76.4% with an additional 21.8% reporting to secondary concentrates for future processing. This equates to about 129,000tpa of high grade coarse concentrate grading +6.4% Li2O at 1mtpa of feed.
? In addition, a total of 285,000t of fines and secondary concentrates, per million tonnes of feed, would be stockpiled for stage 2 processing or initially treated through the tantalum circuit.
? The benefits of the selected process route, for the stage one DMS circuit, are:
- Low capital cost
- Short time to commissioning, low risk
- Very low processing cost
- Production of a coarse high grade premium concentrate
? A circuit to treat the fines and secondary concentrates will be constructed after production commences and will be funded out of cash flow. This is expected to add ~45,000t of concentrate at limited incremental cost.

Atom99 ( Date: 15-Mar-2017 07:50) Posted:

Singapore

ALLIANCE Mineral Assets is in a hurry like no other. The Australian mining group, which is on the trail of a commodity that some say is hotter than gold, is working at full speed to start production by the end of this year.

The commodity in question: lithium, a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and energy-storage systems which are expected to become more prevalent over the next decade.

Alliance Mineral is now working to complete its resource estimate, which is expected to be released in early April. After that, it will be all systems go.

With it, the firm will be able to complete its feasibility study for the production of lithium and tantalum, and award the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for mine infrastructure. It can then also finalise offtake agreements with potential partners that it is already in discussion with.

" Once we come out with the proper reserve (estimate), the project will run," said its CEO Tjandra Pramoko in an interview with The Business Times.

Alliance Mineral first turned to lithium in April last year, after prices for tantalum - a rare metal used in electronic devices which it began producing in December 2015 - fell some 50 per cent from two years ago. Instead of continuing to mine tantalum at a loss, the company decided to pause and look at other options.

At that point in time, the only two minerals in Australia that were doing well were gold and lithium. While the group had previously found lithium in its exploration work for tantalum, it did not produce lithium as the prices were low. With lithium prices having more than doubled from the end of December, it now made sense.

" (It was) only in the last few years that people started to notice that Australia is the world' s largest pegmatite producer," said Mr Pramoko. " So now we' re going back in time, pulling out all the drill results and re-checking everything."

After a few months, the group entered into a joint venture agreement with a company called Lithco 2, which was acquired by Australia-listed Tawana Resources in December last year. Tawana has since been drilling at Alliance Mineral' s Bald Hill project to test for lithium resources.

" The drilling has been incredible - the numbers are very good," said Mr Pramoko. Initial test results have shown that at a crush size of 6.3mm, 93.7 per cent of the spodumene - from which lithium is extracted - has a relatively high grade concentration of 5.08 per cent of lithium oxide before cleaning.

With further refinement through a process known as beneficiation, this can be further improved up to 6.73 per cent. Mr Pramoko said that the industry standard for concentrate is 5.5-6 per cent.

Lithium is produced from two main sources: brine and hard rock. In the first, lithium-rich brine concentrate is extracted from beneath salt lakes found mainly in South America in a capital-intensive process that is slow to respond to market conditions but generally lower cost.

In the second, which is dominated by Australia, spodumene is mined and processed to extract lithium in a process that can be started faster than brine but is more costly to operate.

While there are some 60 companies on the Australian Securities Exchange with lithium projects or lithium exploration plans, according to an Australian Finance Review article, Alliance Mineral bills itself as the only lithium company on the Singapore Exchange. With the lithium discovery last year, its share price has tripled from a low of 5.7 Singapore cents in June last year.

By producing both lithium and tantalum, the firm hopes to cushion itself from volatile prices. It also allows the group to capture more revenue. " You' re mining on the same rock, so the cost of mining is actually only one cost but you get two products," said Mr Pramoko. But to be able to also produce lithium, the group has to build a density media separation (DMS) circuit, which separates the minerals through a spinning process akin to that in a washing machine. Money for the DMS system will come from Tawana' s committed expenditure under the earn-in agreement.

Under the agreement, Tawana is required to spend a minimum of A$7.5 million (S$8 million) on exploration, evaluation and feasibility by the end of this year. Upon completion of this, it is entitled to half of all rights to lithium minerals in the project.

Tawana also has to spend A$12.5 million in capital spending for upgrading and converting the plant to process ore from the project by the end of 2019. With this, it will be entitled to a 50 per cent interest in the project, including all minerals from the tenements, the processing plant and other infrastructure.

Given that Tawana is the one forking out the funds required for Alliance Mineral to progress, the latter is " sitting in a very good position because we still have cash in the bank with a very small burn rate" , said Mr Pramoko.

The group, which posted a loss of of A$2.26 million for the six months ended December 31, has A$3.34 million in cash as at the same date.

If all goes according to plan, Alliance Mineral will commission the DMS system in October, and start lithium production by the end of this year.

Alliance Mineral will sell rough lithium concentrate to China, but process the fine concentrate with its existing plant previously used for only tantalum. The company is still in discussion with possible lithium offtake companies ranging from battery producers and converters to end users. " We are choosing now which one we want to go with," said Mr Pramoko.

With a tenement portfolio of 59,000 hectares - an area slightly smaller than Singapore - the company believes it is only at the start of its journey. " Right now we' re only touching less than one per cent of our tenement," said Mr Pramoko' s wife Simone Suen, who is also executive director of the company. " There' s still a lot to go."

sandrea@sph.com.sg

@AndreaSohBT

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Tawana Resources NL (?Tawana? or the ?Company?) and Alliance Mineral Assets Limited (SGX: AMAL) are pleased to announce that larger scale metallurgical test work has delivered exceptional results which will allow for a simple, low-capital, low-risk startup operation and a short construction period for the planned commissioning at the Bald Hill Lithium and Tantalum Mine in October 2017.
Highlights
? Larger scale metallurgical test work completed.
? Two key findings of Bald Hill mineralisation are:
? The ability to produce grades well in excess of 6% Li2O at good mass yields and acceptably low iron content.
? The ability to reject 60-70% of the feed mass after a first pass Dense Media Separation (DMS), thus reducing processing costs appreciably.
? After removal of -1mm fines and mica, 78% of feed to the plant, containing 83% of the lithium, is available for low-cost gravity DMS processing.
? Recovery to immediately marketable concentrates from the DMS is 76.4% with an additional 21.8% reporting to secondary concentrates for future processing. This equates to about 129,000tpa of high grade coarse concentrate grading +6.4% Li2O at 1mtpa of feed.
? In addition, a total of 285,000t of fines and secondary concentrates, per million tonnes of feed, would be stockpiled for stage 2 processing or initially treated through the tantalum circuit.
? The benefits of the selected process route, for the stage one DMS circuit, are:
- Low capital cost
- Short time to commissioning, low risk
- Very low processing cost
- Production of a coarse high grade premium concentrate
? A circuit to treat the fines and secondary concentrates will be constructed after production commences and will be funded out of cash flow. This is expected to add ~45,000t of concentrate at limited incremental cost.

Atom99 ( Date: 15-Mar-2017 07:50) Posted:

Singapore

ALLIANCE Mineral Assets is in a hurry like no other. The Australian mining group, which is on the trail of a commodity that some say is hotter than gold, is working at full speed to start production by the end of this year.

The commodity in question: lithium, a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and energy-storage systems which are expected to become more prevalent over the next decade.

Alliance Mineral is now working to complete its resource estimate, which is expected to be released in early April. After that, it will be all systems go.

With it, the firm will be able to complete its feasibility study for the production of lithium and tantalum, and award the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for mine infrastructure. It can then also finalise offtake agreements with potential partners that it is already in discussion with.

" Once we come out with the proper reserve (estimate), the project will run," said its CEO Tjandra Pramoko in an interview with The Business Times.

Alliance Mineral first turned to lithium in April last year, after prices for tantalum - a rare metal used in electronic devices which it began producing in December 2015 - fell some 50 per cent from two years ago. Instead of continuing to mine tantalum at a loss, the company decided to pause and look at other options.

At that point in time, the only two minerals in Australia that were doing well were gold and lithium. While the group had previously found lithium in its exploration work for tantalum, it did not produce lithium as the prices were low. With lithium prices having more than doubled from the end of December, it now made sense.

" (It was) only in the last few years that people started to notice that Australia is the world' s largest pegmatite producer," said Mr Pramoko. " So now we' re going back in time, pulling out all the drill results and re-checking everything."

After a few months, the group entered into a joint venture agreement with a company called Lithco 2, which was acquired by Australia-listed Tawana Resources in December last year. Tawana has since been drilling at Alliance Mineral' s Bald Hill project to test for lithium resources.

" The drilling has been incredible - the numbers are very good," said Mr Pramoko. Initial test results have shown that at a crush size of 6.3mm, 93.7 per cent of the spodumene - from which lithium is extracted - has a relatively high grade concentration of 5.08 per cent of lithium oxide before cleaning.

With further refinement through a process known as beneficiation, this can be further improved up to 6.73 per cent. Mr Pramoko said that the industry standard for concentrate is 5.5-6 per cent.

Lithium is produced from two main sources: brine and hard rock. In the first, lithium-rich brine concentrate is extracted from beneath salt lakes found mainly in South America in a capital-intensive process that is slow to respond to market conditions but generally lower cost.

In the second, which is dominated by Australia, spodumene is mined and processed to extract lithium in a process that can be started faster than brine but is more costly to operate.

While there are some 60 companies on the Australian Securities Exchange with lithium projects or lithium exploration plans, according to an Australian Finance Review article, Alliance Mineral bills itself as the only lithium company on the Singapore Exchange. With the lithium discovery last year, its share price has tripled from a low of 5.7 Singapore cents in June last year.

By producing both lithium and tantalum, the firm hopes to cushion itself from volatile prices. It also allows the group to capture more revenue. " You' re mining on the same rock, so the cost of mining is actually only one cost but you get two products," said Mr Pramoko. But to be able to also produce lithium, the group has to build a density media separation (DMS) circuit, which separates the minerals through a spinning process akin to that in a washing machine. Money for the DMS system will come from Tawana' s committed expenditure under the earn-in agreement.

Under the agreement, Tawana is required to spend a minimum of A$7.5 million (S$8 million) on exploration, evaluation and feasibility by the end of this year. Upon completion of this, it is entitled to half of all rights to lithium minerals in the project.

Tawana also has to spend A$12.5 million in capital spending for upgrading and converting the plant to process ore from the project by the end of 2019. With this, it will be entitled to a 50 per cent interest in the project, including all minerals from the tenements, the processing plant and other infrastructure.

Given that Tawana is the one forking out the funds required for Alliance Mineral to progress, the latter is " sitting in a very good position because we still have cash in the bank with a very small burn rate" , said Mr Pramoko.

The group, which posted a loss of of A$2.26 million for the six months ended December 31, has A$3.34 million in cash as at the same date.

If all goes according to plan, Alliance Mineral will commission the DMS system in October, and start lithium production by the end of this year.

Alliance Mineral will sell rough lithium concentrate to China, but process the fine concentrate with its existing plant previously used for only tantalum. The company is still in discussion with possible lithium offtake companies ranging from battery producers and converters to end users. " We are choosing now which one we want to go with," said Mr Pramoko.

With a tenement portfolio of 59,000 hectares - an area slightly smaller than Singapore - the company believes it is only at the start of its journey. " Right now we' re only touching less than one per cent of our tenement," said Mr Pramoko' s wife Simone Suen, who is also executive director of the company. " There' s still a lot to go."

sandrea@sph.com.sg

@AndreaSohBT

risktaker ( Date: 15-Mar-2017 07:43) Posted:

The super thick great wall of china at 20.5 n 0.21 seems impossible to brea