Infinity’s San Jose Lithium Project to Have $288-million Price Tag

Infinity Lithium (ASX:INF) has released a scoping study for its San Jose lithium project in Spain’s Extremadura region, with startup capital set at US$288 million.

The company had previously released a lithium carbonate scoping study for San Jose, but subsequently chose to shift the project’s focus towards lithium hydroxide. Infinity attributes the decision to the evolving battery market and to lithium hydroxide being a higher-value battery chemical product.

According to the scoping study, the project is set to produce 14,000 to 15,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year over an estimated 24-year life. San Jose is seen generating US$5.1 billion in revenue and over US$126 million in free cashflow per year, setting the payback period at just over two years.

“Infinity has been able to capitalize on evolving market conditions and this scoping study clearly demonstrates the significant advantages in the production of a higher value lithium chemical end product, lithium hydroxide,” Infinity Managing Director Ryan Parkin said in a statement.

“The evolution of cathode technologies used in higher density lithium-ion batteries has seen greater opportunities to capitalize on burgeoning electric vehicle demand for battery grade lithium chemicals, and in particular leaves Infinity well placed to alleviate geographical supply side risk of European cathode and battery producers,” he continued.

The company updated its mineral resource estimate for the project in May, with the total resource jumping from 92.2 million tonnes to 111.3 million tonnes across the indicated and inferred categories. The total resource sits at 0.28 percent lithium and 0.61 percent lithium oxide.

Infinity currently owns 50 percent of San Jose in a joint venture with Valoriza Mineria, a subsidiary of Spanish construction and engineering company Sacyr, but will boost its stake to 75 percent upon the completion of a feasibility study.

Going forward, Infinity plans to progress technical work with Valoriza and complete a prefeasibility study; it will complete a feasibility study 12 to 18 months after the prefeasibility study.

Infinity’s share price was up 4.82 percent by the end of trading on the ASX on Thursday (November 29), closing the day at AU$0.087.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Olivia Da Silva, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.