Lithium Americas Announces Positive Feasibility Study for Stage 1 of the Cauchari-Olaroz Lithium Project

Lithium Americas (TSX:LAC) has announced results of a Definitive Feasibility Study on the Cauchari-Olaroz lithium project in Argentina.
As quoted in the press release:

Highlights:

• Average annual production of 25,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate over a 40-year project life
• Estimated construction capital cost of $425 million, before working capital and value-added taxes (“VAT”)
• Average operating costs of $2,495/t of battery-grade lithium carbonate produced
• Average annual EBITDA of $233 million, after-tax NPV of $803 million (at a 10% discount rate) and after-tax IRR of 28.4% assuming a price of $12,000/t of battery-grade lithium carbonate sold
• Creation of at least 260 permanent jobs during the 40 years of operations and employment of at least 800 people during the 2-year construction period
• Government confirmation of all necessary permits to commence construction and operate
• Construction expected to commence in the first half of 2017 with production starting in 2019

Cauchari-Olaroz is 100% owned by Minera Exar S.A. (“Minera Exar”), an Argentine company owned 50/50 by Lithium Americas and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (“SQM”). As previously announced, Minera Exar is pursuing a development plan at Cauchari-Olaroz for production capacity of 50,000 tonnes per annum (“tpa”) of battery-grade lithium carbonate (“Li₂CO₃“) in two stages, with each stage consisting of 25,000 tpa of Li₂CO₃. The Stage 1 DFS covers the first stage (“Stage 1”) and the plant for Stage 1 has been engineered to integrate production from the second stage (“Stage 2”). No estimated financial results or reserve estimate associated with Stage 2 are included in the Stage 1 DFS.

Click here to read the full press release.

Source: lithiumamericas.com