Transamine reaches agreement on finance provision for lithium project in Zimbabwe

Transamine Trading will provide Kamativi Tailings and joint-venture partner Zimbabwe Lithium with $9.5 million of debt funding to finance the Kamativi Tailings Lithium Project, in exchange for supplies of lithium spodumene produced from the mine.

The funding will be provided on completion of relevant conditions including the release of a definitive feasibility study.

Canadian company Chimata Gold and its subsidiary Zimbabwe Lithium own 60% of the Kamativi Tailings Lithium Project in Zimbabwe, with the remaining 40% owned by Kamativi Tin Mines.

The funding will be used in the construction of the Phase 1 processing plant and for working capital.

Kamativi Tailings intends to produce min 6% lithium spodumene concentrate at the project, and Transamine will have the right to 150,000 tonnes of phase 1 production.

Phase 1 production is scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2019 with a production rate equivalent to 55,000 tonnes per year of lithium concentrate. No end date for phase 1 was specified.

The second phase of the project is intended to produce 169,000 tpy of similar concentrate beginning in the first quarter of 2020. This will require investment of $33 million.

The agreement establishes that the lithium spodumene price will be set according to international market terms for min 6% lithium spodumene concentrate, although no price was specified.

Fastmarkets’ most recent assessment of the price of lithium spodumene min 5-6%, cif China, was $600-750 per tonne on December 26 last year, down from $650-800 per tonne on November 28.