Nemaska Lithium Announces Updated Feasibility Study for Whabouchi Mine

Nemaska Lithium Inc. (TSXV:NMX,OTCQX:NMKEF) announced the results of an update to its May 2014 Feasibility Study on the Whabouchi Mine and Concentrator to be located in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory in Quebec and the Hydromet Plant to be located in Shawinigan, Quebec. The Updated Feasibility Study Shows a Pre-Tax NPV at 8% Discount Rate of $1.9 B (After-Tax $1.16 B) and a Pre-Tax IRR of 37.7% (After-Tax 30.3%)
As quoted in the press release:

The 2016 updated Feasibility Study encompasses a combined open pit and underground mine plan and was prepared by Met-Chem, a division of DRA Americas Inc. (Met-Chem) and Seneca Inc. with contribution from Michel L. Bilodeau, Eng., M. Sc. (App.), Ph.D. for the cash flow model. The previous Mineral Reserve declared as part of the 2014 Feasibility Study with an effective date of May 13th, 2014 has not changed.
The Feasibility Study outlines a combined open pit and underground mine. The open pit mine Proven and Probable Reserves are 20 million tonnes at 1.53% Li2O. The underground mine Proven and Probable Reserves are 7.3 million tonnes at 1.28% Li2O.
The hydromet plant will be located in Shawinigan, QC. This site has been selected for its excellent existing infrastructure and availability of existing buildings. The site is serviced by the CN railway system and a pool of skilled workers and contractors from Shawinigan and the Mauricie area. The hydromet plant will be state of the art and will use Nemaska Lithium’s patented process to convert the spodumene concentrate into the purest lithium hydroxide on the market. Proximity to the Hydro-Quebec network, as the plant will use close to 50 MW once in full operation, and access to the natural gas network were also deciding factors.

Nemaska Lithium President and CEO, Guy Bourassa, stated:

It was necessary to update our Feasibility Study to reflect the change of location of the hydromet plant from Salaberry-de-Valleyfield to Shawinigan, both in the Province of Quebec; and to reflect the optimization of our processes. These improvements will enable Nemaska Lithium to be a low costs producer of lithium hydroxide with a cost per tonne of CDN$2,693 (US$2,154/t); while lithium carbonate will have a cost per tonne of CDN$3,441/t (US$2,753/t). Our new costs of production for lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate are respectively 22% and 18% lower than our production cost in the 2014 Feasibility Study. We also took into consideration the current trends in the US to Canadian dollar exchange rate, as well as the forecasted prices of lithium compounds to reflect the reality of price increases in the lithium compounds market. The end result is a 106% improvement in the pre-tax NPV (8% discount) base case, going from $924 M in 2014 to $1.9 B and a 49% improvement in the pre-tax IRR increasing to 37.7% from 25.2% in 2014.
Our lithium hydroxide cost is competitive with any supplier of lithium hydroxide today and in the foreseeable future. Our new flow sheet has been designed to optimize the production of lithium hydroxide, while also producing a high purity lithium carbonate (99.99%), as a by-product. Nemaska Lithium’s market penetration and growth strategy is to become an important supplier of lithium hydroxide by offering the highest quality product at competitive prices, while maintaining healthy margins. In tandem, Nemaska plans to grow its target market through converting lithium carbonate users to lithium hydroxide by offering a superior product (lithium hydroxide).

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