Piedmont Increases Lithium Resource by 47% to 27.9 Million Tonnes

  • 47% increase in Piedmont Project-wide Mineral Resource estimate to 27.9 Mt @ 1.11% Li2O
  • 55% increase in Mineral Resource estimate on Core property to25.1 Mt @ 1.09% Li2O
  • 74% of the Core property resource is within 100m of surface and 97% is within 150m of surface
  • 100% of the lithium resource is attributed to spodumene mineralization
  • Core property Resource is based on 326diamond coreholes totalling over 51,000 meters
  • 9,450 meters of drilling remain in Phase 4 drill campaign with numerous highly prospective targets

 

NEW YORK – Piedmont Lithium Limited (“Piedmont” or “Company”) is pleased to announce a major update to the Mineral Resource estimate for the Company’s wholly-owned Piedmont Lithium Project (“Project”) located within the world-class Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt (“TSB”) in North Carolina, USA (Table 1).

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190625005273/en/

Figure 1:  Piedmont Lithium Project Showing Resource, Resource Shells and New Exploration Target Areas (Graphic: Business Wire)

Figure 1:  Piedmont Lithium Project Showing Resource, Resource Shells and New Exploration Target Areas (Graphic: Business Wire)

The Mineral Resource for the Core property has increased to 25.1 million tonnes (“Mt”) at a grade of 1.09% Li2O, bringing the Project’s total Mineral Resources to 27.9 Mt at a grade of 1.11% Li2O, containing 309,000 tonnes of lithium oxide (“Li2O”) or 764,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (“LCE”) (the benchmark used in the lithium industry).

Table 1: Project Wide Mineral Resource Estimate for the Piedmont Lithium Project (0.4% cut-off)

Resource Category

Core property

Central property

Total

Tonnes (Mt)

Grade (Li2O%)

Tonnes (Mt)

Grade (Li2O%)

Tonnes (Mt)

Grade (Li2O%)

Li2O

(t)

LCE

(t)

Indicated

12.5

1.13

1.41

1.38

13.9

1.16

161,000

398,000

Inferred

12.6

1.04

1.39

1.29

14.0

1.06

148,000

366,000

Total

25.1

1.09

2.80

1.34

27.9

1.11

309,000

764,000

Importantly, 74% of the Core Mineral Resource is within 100m of surface and 97% is within 150m of surface. Approximately 50%; or 12.5 million tonnes of the Mineral Resource is classified in the Indicated Resource category. All of the Mineral Resource tonnes at both Core and Central properties are attributable to spodumene mineralization.

The Company expects to complete a pre-feasibility level metallurgical testwork program followed by a Scoping Study update in July 2019.

Keith D. Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are very pleased with the resource update at our Core property, bringing our total project-wide resources to 27.9Mt at 1.11% Li2O. As we expand our land holdings and drill out other highly prospective targets, we are optimistic that we will ultimately identify North America’s largest spodumene ore body. This scale, combined with high grade, strong mineralogy and metallurgy, and our superior location in North Carolina, all support the unique strategic nature of the Piedmont Lithium Project.

Click here to view full ASX Release.

Keith D. Phillips | President & CEO

T: +1 973 809 0505

E: kphillips@piedmontlithium.com

Anastasios (Taso) Arima |Executive Director

T: +1 347 899 1522

E: tarima@piedmontlithium.com

Pure Spodumene Nature of Piedmont Lithium Ore Body

  • XRD analysis confirms pure spodumene nature of Piedmont’s ore body
    • Absence of petalite and lepidolite in pegmatites expected to
      lead to high lithium recovery
  • Mineralogy consistent across Piedmont’s Core, Central, and
    Sunnyside properties
  • Piedmont on-track to release Resource, Metallurgy and Scoping Study
    updates in the next 60 days

NEW YORK – Piedmont Lithium Limited (“Piedmont” or “Company”) is
pleased to announce the completion of mineralogical analysis on samples
of mineralized pegmatites and composite samples from Piedmont’s Core,
Central, and Sunnyside Properties. All testwork to date effectively
demonstrates that lithium occurs almost exclusively within spodumene in
Piedmont’s mineral resource.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190618005279/en/

Distribution of XRD Samples from Mineralized Pegmatites from Piedmont Properties (Graphic: Business  ...

Distribution of XRD Samples from Mineralized Pegmatites from Piedmont Properties (Graphic: Business Wire)

 
Table 1: Average XRD Analysis Results from 46 Drill Core and
Composite Samples of Piedmont Ore
Mineralogy     Average Wt. (%) of Mineral Types
Core Property     Central Property     Sunnyside Property
    Semi-quantitative Samples

(13 Samples)

    Quantitative Samples

(19 Samples)

    Composite Variability Samples

(10 Samples)

    Quantitative Samples

(3 Samples)

    Quantitative Sample

(1 Sample)

Lithium-bearing minerals     Spodumene     17.8     19.9     16.6     15.9     14.8
Petalite                    
Lepidolite                    
Zinnwaldite                    
    Holmquistite             0.5        
Non-lithium bearing minerals     82.2     80.1     82.9     84.1     85.2
Total     100     100     100     100     100
               

Piedmont has been advised that the character of its ore body is unusual
and highly positive, which will allow for a simplified flowsheet to
produce strong lithium recoveries. Many of the spodumene projects
currently producing or under development contain multiple
lithium-bearing minerals (petalite, lepidolite, zinnwaldite, etc. as
well as spodumene).

Keith D. Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “As
the market’s understanding of lithium processing evolves, it will become
increasingly clear that mineralogy and metallurgy are the fundamental
building blocks of a successful hard-rock lithium business.
Our
testwork confirms what we have always suspected – the Carolina
Tin-Spodumene Belt is exceptional not only in scale but in terms of
mineralogy.
When combined with the shallow nature of our ore body
and the capital and operating cost advantages of our location, we are
excited about the upcoming resource, metallurgical and scoping study
updates.

Click
here to view the full ASX Announcement.

Keith D. Phillips
President & CEO
T: +1 973 809 0505
E:
kphillips@piedmontlithium.com

Anastasios
(Taso) Arima

Executive Director
T: +1 347 899 1522
E: tarima@piedmontlithium.com