(Kitco News) – AVZ Minerals (ASX:AVZ) announced today that it has increased reserves, grade and the life of mine estimates for its Manono lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as the company transitions the project into development.
The company said that JORC proved and probable ore reserves now estimated at 131.7Mt – an increase of 41.6% from the 93Mt reported in April 2020 DFS. Average lithium grade increased by 3.1% from 1.58% to 1.63% Li2O while tin grade of 990 ppm remains the same but reports a 41% increase in contained tin metal to 130.3kt.
AVZ added that the life of mine extended to 29.5 years based on a 4.5Mtpa operation underpinned by the ore reserves – an increase of 47.5% from April 2020 DFS.
The company pointed out that the Roche Dure ore deposit “continues to impress” as potentially the largest standalone global hard rock lithium asset based on proved and probable ore reserves.
Managing director Nigel Ferguson said, “This is a fantastic result for the Manono project, with a 41.6% increase in mineable reserves, a 3% increase in head grade from 1.58 to 1.63% Li2O and a 47.5% increase in the life of mine, which was essentially capped at just under 30 years due to limitations predicting economic factors beyond this time frame.”
The company noted that ore reserves have been estimated in conjunction with the optimised DFS for the project and is underpinned by that study.