International Lithium files PEA for Raleigh Lake Lithium Project near Ignace ON

"We are really pleased to have brought the first stage of the Raleigh Lake project to the PEA stage in a relatively short time, and it was pleasing to have been able to announce these results despite a considerable fall in the lithium price," John Wisbey, Chairman and CEO of ILC said. 

"Since publication in early December that price has fallen appreciably further owing, we understand, to destocking in the Chinese battery industry. The lithium price is now back to mid 2021 levels having been six times higher in late 2022. It is obvious that destocking cannot continue indefinitely, and we hope for a significant price recovery in 2024-25 given the tremendous progress taking place in new lithium battery technologies and the ever increasing uptake of EVs and battery storage based on lithium. At the same time, as we made clear previously, this PEA takes no account of the considerable amounts of rubidium that we have at Raleigh Lake. Rubidium is on the US critical minerals list. We will be actively researching the market for rubidium in the coming months, and assessing the real likely annual demand. More news releases on that subject will follow at the appropriate time."

International Lithium Corp. (TSXV: ILC) (OTCQB: ILHMF) (FSE: IAH) (the "Company" or "ILC") is pleased to announce the National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI43-101") technical report ("The Report") for the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for a proposed lithium mining operation to produce spodumene concentrate at Raleigh Lake, is now filed on SEDAR+.

Further to the Company's news release dated December 4, 2023, the Raleigh Lake Project, located 25 kilometres west of Ignace, Ontario has demonstrated a highly favourable economic scenario based on the production of a spodumene concentrate containing 6% Li2O ("SC6").

The PEA relies on recent metallurgical test work (Phase 1) which indicates that SC6 can be produced using a simple crushing circuit and heavy liquid separation techniques. In the Phase 1 tests lithium recoveries were above 81% while iron oxide content remained within acceptable limits. As originally foreshadowed, the very near proximity of Raleigh Lake to existing service infrastructure along the Trans-Canada Highway corridor affords significant logistical and economic advantages to the project.

This PEA only considers spodumene concentrate, i.e. lithium, as a revenue source. The Company continues to investigate the potential value associated with the extraction of rubidium from the microcline zone within the spodumene deposit.

PEA Highlights

Economics (discounted at 8% p.a., CAD$)

• Pre-tax Cashflow = CAD$709.4 million, NPV = CAD$385.1 million, IRR = 46.5% p.a.
• After-tax Cashflow = CAD$634.0 million, NPV = CAD$342.9 million, IRR = 44.3% p.a.
• Price assumptions: CAD$3,139/tonne for 6% Li2O concentrate (USD$2,325/tonne)

CAPEX/OPEX

• Total pre-production capital costs: CAD$111.9 million
• Total sustaining capital: CAD$17.5 million
• Total life of mine ("LoM") operating costs: CAD$381 million (including concentrate transport)
• Average operating costs: CAD$94.38/tonne milled, CAD$993/tonne SC6

Mining Method

• Traditional open pit drilling and blasting followed by load and haul
• The plant feed production rate is proposed to be 540,000 tonnes per year ("tpy")
• This LoM mine plan is proposed to mine 57 million tonnes ("Mt") of material over the mine life, which will be comprised of 4Mt of mill feed and 53Mt of waste with an average strip ratio of 13.2:1
• Life of mine is forecast at nine years; project duration is 11 years

Process Plant

• The base case process plant is designed to crush 1,500 tonnes per day ("tpd") and process 1,500 tpd in a dense media separation ("DMS") plant to produce a nominal 56,000 tpy of 6% Li2O at 81% recovery
• Process engineering and design were developed to a scoping level based on the results of the SGS laboratory testing. The SGS lab tests obtained 22.9 weight percentages of 6% Lithium Concentrate and estimated 81% lithium recovery
• A design factor of 10% is applied on nominal requirements to ensure that the process equipment has enough capacity to take care of the expected feed variation
• Total production for LoM is 414,904 tonnes of 6% Li2O spodumene concentrate ("SC6")

A copy of The Report, "The Raleigh Lake Project, NI43-101 Technical Report - PEA," was filed on SEDAR on January 18, 2024.

Raleigh Lake is 100% owned by ILC and there are no overriding royalties. The Company's vision for Raleigh Lake is a low-risk, low-impact, small-scale mining operation that can begin to provide critical minerals necessary to fulfil Canada's Critical Mineral Strategy in a shorter time frame than would be required for a much larger scale, longer duration and more remotely located project. Revenues from the mine production would continue to feed back into exploration work to expand ILC's drive to become a significant Critical Minerals supplier in North America.

Executive Comment

PEA Summary

Environmental Resource Management ("ERM") was retained by International Lithium Corp. ("ILC" or the "Company") to prepare a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) for the Raleigh Lake Project (the "Project") located near Ignace, Ontario, Canada.

The Raleigh Lake Project is roughly 25 kilometres west of Ignace and 235 kilometres west of Thunder Bay in the northwestern part of Ontario within the Kenora Mining District. It is adjacent to the Trans-Canada Highway (Hwy 17) with CN Rail, TC Energy natural gas pipeline and Hydro One 235kV power lines transcending the Property. It is owned 100% by International Lithium Canada Ltd., a 100% owned subsidiary of ILC. There are no royalties or other encumbrances on the Property.

ILC identified the opportunity at Raleigh Lake in 2016 but did not begin actively pursuing work on the project until 2021 when an initial test drilling campaign was conducted along with regional lithogeochemical sampling. In 2022 the Company completed sufficient drilling to define a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") with resources reported in the measured, indicated, and inferred categories (see below and Company press releases dated March 1 and April 13, 2023). Upon analyzing the MRE the Company embarked upon some initial metallurgical and economic studies that culminated in the results presented here. It is the Company's opinion that the results to date provide a good basis to pursue a mining operation at Raleigh Lake and such an operation can be considered low impact due to the existence of well-developed and utilized infrastructure and the path to environmental permitting and eventual production would be shorter than if the project were to be more remotely located. The entire operation could be significantly more sustainable than remote operations and have direct economic benefits for the nearby and surrounding communities.

 

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