LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Africa-focussed lithium explorer and developer Atlantic Lithium announced the award of the processing plant front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the Ewoyaa project in Ghana to Primero Group on Tuesday.
The AIM-traded firm said that under the terms of the agreement, Primero would provide services to optimise the project's flow sheet, identify long lead items, look to maximise its long-term profitability, reduce execution risk, and ultimately support the advancement of the project towards becoming a financially and "operationally robust" lithium-producing mine.

It said the value of the contract was $0.98m, to be paid under the three-stage earn-in agreement Atlantic Lithium had with Piedmont Lithium to fund the project towards production.

The company said Primero, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NRW Holdings, specialises in the design, construction and operation of global resource projects.

It said it has "extensive experience" in delivering large-scale construction contracts, including in the lithium industry and in West Africa, demonstrating "significant" expertise, versatility, and competence.

Primero previously provided services for a number of lithium projects with comparable flow sheets to Ewoyaa's, including Tawana Resources' Bald Hill, Pilbara Minerals' Pilgangoora, Core Lithium's Finnus, Covalent Lithium's Mt Holland, and Sigma Lithium's Xuxa.

Following the recent completion of the 47,000-metre resource and exploration drilling programme at the project, Atlantic said it was currently working towards producing an updated mineral resource estimate set to be announced in the first quarter of 2023.

The updated estimate would then be used to support a definitive feasibility study, expected to be completed by the middle of 2023.

Atlantic Lithium said it was also pleased to announce the appointment of Roux Terblanche as its project manager with immediate effect.

It said Terblanche had more than 25 years of experience across domestic and international mining sectors, including in the lithium sector and in West Africa.

Roux Terblanche was part of the team that delivered the pre-feasibility study for the project, with his experience and expertise from Ewoyaa as well as other projects in Ghana and globally set to be "key" to the company's success in building Ghana's first lithium-producing mine on time and within budget, the directors explained.

"We are thrilled to take the next significant step towards becoming a lithium producer by awarding the FEED contract to Primero," said executive chairman Neil Herbert.

"Primero is an industry leader in engineering and construction in the lithium sector, as proven by their technical expertise, quality and efficient delivery across an extensive portfolio of projects around the world.

"Primero's involvement invites a fast-tracked programme and significantly reduces execution risk and, therefore, will be highly valuable to the company."

"At the same time, Herbert said the company was "delighted" with Roux Terblanche's appointment as project manager.

"Roux brings considerable experience and expertise to the team, not least having been involved in delivering the pre-feasibility study at Ewoyaa, and his appointment comes at an exciting and highly important time."

The award of the contract to Primero and Terblanche's appointment as project manager demonstrated the "significant steps" Atlantic was taking to advance the project towards production, Herbert added.

"Following the recent completion of the drilling programme at the project, we look forward to announcing an updated mineral resource estimate in the coming months, which will put us in good stead to announce the definitive feasibility study in mid-2023."

At 1003 GMT, shares in Atlantic Lithium were down 1.55% at 37.81p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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