Dakota Minerals is targeting mid-2019 for the development of its Sepeda Lithium Project in Portugal, partnering with consultancy Hatch to start a Scoping Study. MD David Frances said the partnership with Hatch, a proven designer and builder of downstream lithium plants, would stand Dakota in good stead to achieve its goals with Sepeda. He said Dakota was embarking on a rapid development timeline to position the Company as a key domestic supplier to the fast-growing European lithium market.
- Mid-2019 target date for first production
- Scoping Study and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) work has commenced for the development of the Sepeda Lithium Project
- Hatch Pty Ltd. commissioned to carry out the Scoping Study – leader in design and construction of lithium chemical production plants
- Review of dual listing commenced
Dakota Minerals Limited (“Dakota”, “DKO”, or “Company”) is pleased to provide shareholders with an outline of the development timeline for the Sepeda Lithium Project in Portugal. Significantly, Dakota is aiming to commence production in mid-2019, only three years after the first discovery of lithium at Sepeda by the Company. This timing coincides with the planned opening of various lithium-ion battery factories across Europe, and the completion of capacity expansion at existing battery plants.
As a major step, the Company is pleased to announce the commencement of a Scoping Study and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), at its Sepeda Lithium Project in northern Portugal. Hatch Pty Ltd., a global EPCM company with very significant experience designing and building lithium carbonate plants worldwide, has been commissioned to carry out the Scoping Study.
This process will be complemented by the metallurgical testwork currently underway at Dorfner-Anzaplan in Germany.
Visa Consultores, a Portuguese environmental consultancy, has been engaged to carry out the EIA. This is expected to take 18-months to complete and is required to enable mining and processing at Sepeda.
Dakota Minerals CEO David Frances commented: “We have established an aggressive timeline and as a first step we are pleased to partner with Hatch, one of the best-known designers and builders of downstream lithium processing plants in the industry. This will stand us in good stead to achieve our goals as we embark upon a rapid development timeline to position ourselves as a key domestic supplier to the fast-growing European lithium market.”
Minerals Dakota Minerals’ aim is to become a sustainable supplier of lithium carbonate/hydroxide to the European electric vehicle and stationary storage battery markets, via its projects in northern Portugal.
Portugal: Lusidakota
Dakota’s Lusidakota lithium projects in Northern Portugal, to which Dakota has 100% rights through its binding agreement with Lusorecursos LDA, are located over three broad districts of pegmatitic dyke swarms, which contain spodumene and petalite-bearing pegmatites. The three main districts are the Serra de Arga, Barroso-Alvão and Barca de Alva pegmatite fields, all three of which are highly prospective for lithium mineralisation. The Lusidakota tenement package consists of eight exploration licences (one granted and seven under application). After encountering highly encouraging initial results, exploration at the Sepeda Lithium Project within the Barroso-Alvão district has accelerated, with phase one drilling complete and phase two resource drilling underway. Portugal, as the leading lithium producer in Europe1 , was identified by the Company to be a high priority jurisdiction for lithium. Many countries in Europe are leading the world in uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) using lithium-ion batteries, with EVs already totalling 22% of all new vehicle sales in Norway. Lithium-ion batteries are already being produced in Europe to meet this increasing demand, and production capacity in car-producing countries such as Germany is growing dramatically to keep up with Daimler recently announcing a new 500 million Euro battery factory2 , and Volkswagen to follow suit with an 8 billion Euro “gigafactory”3 . Battery producers will inevitably desire a sustainable lithium supply from within Europe if possible. Sourcing lithium from within Europe would also reduce the carbon footprint of the car production supply chain. Portugal has public policies deemed to be highly supportive of mining: it ranked in the global Top 10 of all countries in the Fraser Institute 2015 Survey of Mining Companies for Policy Perception Index, an assessment of the attractiveness of mining policies4 . For these reasons, the Company has been pursuing projects in areas most prospective for lithium-bearing minerals petalite and spodumene in Portugal.
Lithium Processing in Europe
Dakota‘s view is that the Company’s Portuguese deposits of petalite/spodumene are closer to potential downstream processing locations than the spodumene deposits in Australia and Canada, which tend to be in remote locations, and they offer the following economic advantages:
The established storage, energy and transportation infrastructure associated with the distribution of minerals in Europe will reduce the investment required by Dakota for these capabilities. The net result is that deliveries of concentrates are likely to be made on a daily basis.
The proximity of potential downstream processing facilities will reduce the storage facility requirements at the mine/concentrator site.
The proximity of the Dakota lithium projects to established, educated communities familiar with the mining and processing of petalite will eliminate the need for fly-in fly-out arrangements.
The combination of the above factors is likely to reduce the minimum size of an economic independent lithium battery supply chain in Europe; reducing the capital requirements of the supply chain.
