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LONDON - Premier African Minerals Limited announced Friday that its initial flotation plant test run at the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project has shown encouraging signs following the installation of spodumene float section inserts.
The test run, which began on July 6, initially took longer than expected to achieve a stable operating state due to the plant’s extended downtime before restart. According to the company’s press release, the newly installed cleaner cell inserts have successfully reduced the retention time of concentrates in the cleaner section as originally intended by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
Premier reported that concentrate grades exceeded the target of 5% in the final cleaner cell before being pumped to the filter press. However, the company acknowledged that these improvements in grade have not yet translated to significant enhancements in recovery rates, with excess lithium dioxide still present in the tailings that are recirculated to the flotation circuit.
The company has temporarily halted the initial test run and arranged for the OEM to take full operational control of the plant for the week starting July 21. During this period, testing will resume with the goal of achieving sustained steady-state operation to better evaluate performance and identify optimization opportunities.
"We were frustrated with the time needed to get the plant into a constant running state," said George Roach, CEO of Premier African Minerals, in the statement.
The company also noted that civil construction for an alternative spodumene float section is nearly complete, which is intended to serve as both a contingency option and a means to expand processing capacity.
Premier African Minerals’ primary focus remains achieving a commercially saleable grade before optimizing for recovery rates.
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