Resource World Magazine

40 www.resourceworld.com j u n e / j u l y 2 0 1 4 Following a reverse takeover with Canada Lithium, RB Energy Inc. [RBI-TSX] is now in process of commissioning its 100%- owned lithium mine located 60 km north of Val d'Or, Québec. "By way of history, we took a private company that was owned by Red Back Mining management and merged it with Atacama Chile. As a result, we took control over iodine miner Atacama Minerals Corp. which changed its name to Sirocco Mining Inc. This January, we then completed the merger of Sirocco with Canada Lithium, forming RB Energy," explained Richard Clark, CEO of RB Energy. Focused entirely on industrial miner- als, RB Energy now has a 100% interest in the producing Aguas Blancas iodine-sul- phate-nitrate mine in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and the Québec lithium mine. The lithium-bearing mineral spodu- mene, which outcrops on surface, occurs in pegmatite dykes ranging from 1 to 15 metres wide that are hosted by granodio- rite in the west and mafic volcanics in the east. NI 43-101 compliant resources and reserve estimates have been prepared by independent consultants, AMC Mining Consultants (Canada) Ltd. Measured and indicated resources are estimated to be 33.2 million tonnes grading 1.19% Li 2 O (at a 0.8% Li 2 O cut-off). Proven and probable reserves stand at 17.1 million tonnes grad- ing 0.94% Li 2 O (at a 0.6% Li 2 O cut-off), sufficient for a 12-year mine life. The open pit mining operations use conventional drill/blast, truck/shovel mining methods. Approximately 4,000 tonnes per day of ore will be processed through conven- tional crushing, grinding and flotation to produce a spodumene concentrate. The concentrate is converted via pyro and hydro metallurgical processes to produce lithium carbonate (Li 2 O 3 ). Since the lithium-bearing dyke rock is very light coloured compared to the darker enclosing rocks, the company is in the process of installing an optical sorter right after the crushers. "The material is crushed, comes up the conveyor, and goes through the optical sorter to maximize ore recovery," said Clark. "The optical sorter recognizes white and black and separates the darker waste rocks from the white lithium ore. This will increase recoveries by about 20% and save the cost of processing waste rock." Clark told Resource World that some banking financial arrangements have been amended and there are plans afoot to include bringing in equity and strategic partners; with these actions, funds are in place to complete commissioning of the mine. There are actually two parts to the oper- ation, Clark noted. "At the front end is the crushing, grinding and flotation circuit, called the concentrator. At the back end of the plant is the hydrometallurgical part which is the chemical and heating phase of the process." Clark said the unexpectedly long Québec winter slowed down operations, but things are back on track and the plant has pro- duced very high-grade, battery-grade lithium carbonate. The company will now gradually ramp up to commercial produc- tion which is scheduled for Q3 this year. According to Clark, RB Energy estimates 2014 lithium production to be in the 9,000 to 11,000-tonne range. Currently, there are about 250-300 workers at the lithium mine, about 50-100 of which are contractors com- pleting the mine-building process. Based on the feasibility study, name- plate commercial production is expected to be approximately 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate annually. "With operating costs at approximately $3,200 per tonne as per feasibility study and lithium carbonate sales in China about $5,800 per tonne, we expect this to be a very profitable opera- tion," said Clark. RB Energy has arranged for two off-tak- ers. China-based Tewoo-ERDC, a Fortune 500 company with annual revenues of $40 billion, will off-take 12,000 of the 20,000 tonnes of annual production on a five-year contract. Marubeni in Japan is the other off-taker, accounting for 3,000 to 5,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate, depending on marketing conditions. "We are also in discussions with a major trading house in Korea," said Clark. "Within the next few months, I expect all of our production will be accounted for." Clark expects the lithium carbonate market to grow 5% to 6% during the next two to three years. "The majority of lithium carbonate is used in batteries. While the current market is for batteries in personal electronics – laptops, iPhones, tablets, cell phones, etc – the market we are targeting is batteries for electric vehicles such as cars, trucks, busses and hybrids," said Clark. "Electric vehicle bat- teries require the highest grade of lithium carbonate and our tests have produced lithium carbonate grading 99.98% which would sell for a premium price." Meanwhile, mining operations con- tinue at the Aguas Blancas Mine in Chile where proven and probable reserves stand at 82.9 million tonnes grading 463 ppm I 2 – enough for another 16 years of mine life. Currently, 9,000 tonnes of ore is pro- cessed per day through conventional heap leaching. n RB energy commissioning Québec lithium mine by Ellsworth Dickson A view of the processing facility at the newly commissioned lithium mine north of Val d'Or, Québec. Photo courtesy RB Energy Inc. MINING

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