EMP releases PEA for Saskatchewan lithium project
EMP Metals Corp. [EMPS-CSE] has announced the results of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Viewfield lithium brine project in Saskatchewan.
The company said the PEA outlines the estimated production of battery-quality lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) over 23 years, producing 282,090 tonnes of LCE, or an average of 12,175 tonnes annually.
The PEA encompasses approximately 11,000 hectares of land at the Viewfield project area or 14% of the lands in southern Saskatchewan that are held by EMP’s Hub City Lithium subsidiary. The PEA covers 46% of Hub City’s Viewfield holdings.
The PEA forsees capital expenditures of US$571 million, inclusive of both direct and indirect capital costs, including a US$52 million contingency.
“We are very pleased with the results of the preliminary economic assessment,’’ said EMP CEO Rob Gamley. “With payback in approximately two years, the 23-year project life and pre-tax IRR of 55%, or Viewfield project is clearly a world class lithium asset,’’ he said.
“The PEA study underpins a significant property value and highlights the benefits of excellent brine concentrations, low operating costs and close proximity to local infrastructure in one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world.’’
EMP shares were unchanged on Tuesday at 54 cents and trade in a 52-week range of 69 cents and 38 cents.
The company said exploitation of the resource will occur in two production stages via multi-leg, horizontal wellbores. All project capital (minus end-of-life capex) is allocated at the beginning of the project. Production is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2027.
EMP is a lithium exploration and development company with a focus on large-scale resources using direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology. EMP in partnership with ROK Resources Inc. [ROK-TSXV]. currently holds 79,300 hectares of subsurface dispositions and strategic wellbores in southern Saskatchewan.
The company recently said Hub City Lithium Corp. has successfully completed a large-scale pilot test using the ILiAD DLE Platform developed by Energy Source Minerals (ESM), a privately held process technology company with a focus on DLE in North America.
The pilot, which processed 87,000 litres of brine from the Viewfield project area, successfully recovered 8,300 litres of concentrated eluent with an average lithium concentration of 1,430 mg/L (representing a 7.5 X concentration from the feed brine provided). An average lithium recovery of over 90% and an impurity rejection rate of 99.62% were also verified by ESM. HCL plans to ship the highly concentrated eluent to a third party for refinement into battery grade lithium carbonate
HCL has confirmed successful production of 99.95% pure battery grade lithium carbonate (Li2C03), marking the company’s first brine-to-battery-grade lithium carbonate production.
Saltworks Technologies Inc., a global leader in designing and delivering industrial wastewater treatment and lithium refinement solutions, saw brine sourced from wells in HCL’s Viewfield project area refined into battery grade lithium carbonate.
The Viewfield lithium-containing brine represents the highest concentrations of lithium discovered in Canada to date with minimal pretreatment requirements.