Pilbara Minerals and Calix have released an update on the progress of their mid-stream demonstration plant, which is being developed as a joint venture (JV).
Since entering into the JV on 28 November 2022, significant progress has been made in the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of the proposed demonstration plant in support of a Final Investment Decision (FID) which is expected to be put to the Boards of both companies for approval in the near term.
As the date for FID was originally targeted for the end of the 2022-23 financial year, both joint venture parties have agreed to bring forward certain project expenditure in respect to detailed engineering – initially planned for post-FID – to ensure the delivery schedule and development of the project continues unimpeded. Both parties remain committed to finalising the studies to support the FID, which are now at an advanced stage, with a decision expected to be made by the end of July.
The development of the demonstration plant is supported by $20 million in Federal Government funding announced under the Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI). The MMI Grant Agreement between Pilbara Minerals and the Federal Government (Department of Industry, Science and Resources) was executed on 28 April 2023 and an initial payment of $8 million toward the project was received by Pilbara Minerals on 31 May 2023.
Successful demonstration of the mid-stream process may lead to a commercial scale plant being built as part of Pilbara Minerals’ future mid-stream strategy and to future commercialisation of the calcination technology, with the JV licensing the technology to the global spodumene processing industry.
