AMG Critical Materials (EURONEXT: AMG) announced Thursday that AMG Brazil has signed an exclusive memorandum of understanding with Grupo Lagoa, which operates a pegmatite mine supplying the Portuguese ceramic and glass industry since 1984.
In a press release, the company said the intention of the partnership is to concentrate the lithium minerals contained in the pegmatite to produce commercial grade spodumene concentrate.
“To date, we have performed comprehensive metallurgical tests on a laboratory scale and have confirmed a viable mineral processing route to convert a representative sample of 1.1% Li2O yielding an output of 5.6% Li2O spodumene concentrate at 15.5% mass recovery and 76.2% metallurgical recovery,” it added.
The company said that basic engineering of a sizeable pilot plant with a capacity to process up to 80,000 tonnes per annum of pegmatite has been initiated.
Additional geological studies, including diamond drilling, are currently being conducted to confirm present estimates of the size and quality of the resources which the company believes will support an industrial spodumene operation similar in size to its existing Brazilian operations.
AMG said the industrial plant will be pursued subject to permitting from the relevant Portuguese authorities and other concerned stakeholders, the successful operation of the pilot plant, and confirmation of the available resource base.
Fabiano Costa, President of AMG Brazil, commented, “The intended joint venture is targeting the development of a lithium operation similar to AMG Brazil. Producing spodumene concentrate in Europe is a key part of AMG Lithium’s overall integration strategy.”
AMG is focused on the production and development of energy storage materials such as lithium, vanadium, and tantalum. In addition, AMG’s products include highly engineered systems to reduce CO2 in aerospace engines, as well as critical materials addressing CO2 reduction in a variety of other end use markets.
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