Friday, May 16, 2014

Gigafactory or 200 Gigafactories – Lithium Demand is Reinforced




Rodinia Lithium Inc. (“Rodinia” or the “Company”) is encouraged by the discussions and events held at this year’s World Energy Innovation Form.  The overarching theme is continued support for the expansion of the lithium-ion battery industry, which supports continued and increased demand for lithium carbonate.
“There are going to need to be a lot of gigafactories, if not from Tesla, then from someone else.  There’s essentially a quasi-infinite demand for energy storage, if the energy density and the price are good enough,” said Elon Musk, Chief Executive of Tesla Mortors.
Rodinia’s Salar de Diablillos lithium-potash project is located in mining friendly Salta Province, Argentina boasts an inferred National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource of 2.8Mt lithium carbonate equivalent and 11.2Mt potash with significant further resource expansion possibilities.  Processing work to date has confirmed the ability to produce battery grade lithium carbonate with sample results indicating purities consistently in excess of 99.5%.
The Company has completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Salar de Diablillos, which produced the following strong economic results:
Production Case:
15,000 tpa LC
25,000 tpa LC
Estimated Capital Investment:
US$144 million
US$220 million
Estimated Operating Expenses:
     Per tonne LC
     Per tonne LC with co-product credits
     Per tonne KCl

US$1,519
(US$703)
US$170

US$1,486
(US$762)
US$160
Net Present Value (8% pre-tax):
US$561 million
US$964 million
IRR (pre-tax):
34%
36%
Annual Average Cash Flow:
US$89 million
US$150 million
Projected Payback (8% pre-tax):
1.6 years
1.5 years
Estimated Mine Life:
20+ years
20+ years
The work program required to take the deposit through Feasibility Study is 90% completed.
The Company controls 100% of the prospective producing area of the Salar de Diablillos, which eliminates resource sharing concerns and should enable a fast track through to production once the Feasibility Study is completed.
Continued support for the lithium-ion battery industry, and increased demand for lithium carbonate, should increase the opportunities for Rodinia to finance its construction CAPEX post Feasibility Study.
Readers are encouraged to review the Company’s website at www.rodinialithium.com and company filings posted on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for additional disclosures and information.

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