The way is clear for AZL to focus on surface infrastructure at Prairie. Pic: Getty Images
Arizona Lithium’s completed drilling paves way for Prairie production in 2025
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- Arizona Lithium completes multi-pad drill program at its Prairie lithium brine project
- Wells at Pad #2 and Pad #3 to be converted into future production and disposal wells
- Focus in 2025 on designing and constructing surface infrastructure with production starting late in the year
Special Report: Arizona Lithium has wrapped up the field portion of its 2024 exploration campaign with the testing of two wells at Pad #2 and one well at Pad #3 within its Prairie lithium brine project in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The company has also concluded completion work on additional testing of the recently discovered Dawson Bay and Souris River lithium formations as well as the primary Duperow formation.
Arizona Lithium (ASX:AZL) will convert the wells at Pad #2 and Pad #3 into future production and disposal wells similar to those at Pad #1, which is now a sub-surface producing unit with a production well, a disposal well and a brackish water source well.
The three pads are projected to allow the company to produce a total of 6000tpa of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) in line with the December 2023 preliminary feasibility study, which estimated that each pad has net present value of ~US$150m.
Economics are expected to be attractive with the PFS indicating the project would operate at costs of just US$2819/t LCE, with total capex for its first phase of US$290m and long-term pricing of US$21,000/t.
“Completing the exploration work at Pad #2 and Pad #3, is the first step in understanding the regional extent of lithium concentrations in the Souris River and Dawson Bay formations,” managing director Paul Lloyd said.
“The additional testing performed in the Duperow formation at Pad #3 provides us further confidence in the regional extent of the resource and will strengthen our resource assessment. Having these wells drilled gets us one step closer to production.
“We are taking steps forward with the development each week and I am extremely pleased with the progress the team is making. The data acquired across our Pad’s this year will be used to undertake an updated resource assessment on these formations in the coming months.”
Next steps
AZL has now started detailed engineering design of the surface infrastructure and is in discussions with technology providers and construction entities.
It expects a resource upgrade in the coming months from data collected from the recently completed drilling program.
The company adds that while 2024 was a year of drilling, de-risking and discovery of addition lithium bearing formation, 2025 will be earmarked for designing and constructing surface infrastructure with production of lithium late in that year.
This article was developed in collaboration with Arizona Lithium, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
