Jun 17, 2010 - Emerging lithium-miner Galaxy Resources has started ore extraction from the Dowling pit, at its Mount Cattlin spodumene project, in Western Australia.
MD Iggy Tan said on Thursday that the first ore from the project was a milestone that would guarantee the supply of run-of-mine ore for the commissioning of the Mount Cattlin processing plant during the third quarter of this year.
The Mount Cattlin mine is based on simple openpit mining and a processing design of 15-million tons of ore over a 16-year period from the Cattlin Creek ore body. The initial pit design encompasses existing measured and indicated resources and has been defined as the Dowling pit.
Ore processing will be at a rate of one-million tons a year at an average grade of 1,1% lithium oxide and will produce about 137 000 t/y of spodumene concentrate at 6% lithium oxide and 56 000 lbs/y of contained tantalum in concentrate.
Galaxy has previously reported that by 2010, the Mount Cattlin project would be the world's second-largest hard rock producer of lithium, and through the development of its value-adding lithium carbonate plant, with a capacity of around 17 000 t/y, Galaxy would be the largest and lowest-cost lithium producer in China.
MD Iggy Tan said on Thursday that the first ore from the project was a milestone that would guarantee the supply of run-of-mine ore for the commissioning of the Mount Cattlin processing plant during the third quarter of this year.
The Mount Cattlin mine is based on simple openpit mining and a processing design of 15-million tons of ore over a 16-year period from the Cattlin Creek ore body. The initial pit design encompasses existing measured and indicated resources and has been defined as the Dowling pit.
Ore processing will be at a rate of one-million tons a year at an average grade of 1,1% lithium oxide and will produce about 137 000 t/y of spodumene concentrate at 6% lithium oxide and 56 000 lbs/y of contained tantalum in concentrate.
Galaxy has previously reported that by 2010, the Mount Cattlin project would be the world's second-largest hard rock producer of lithium, and through the development of its value-adding lithium carbonate plant, with a capacity of around 17 000 t/y, Galaxy would be the largest and lowest-cost lithium producer in China.
